Ai no Tsubasa
by CrAzY-SiLLy-Me
Summary: A Demonic Angel. He was her guardian and servant. He would die for her, and would kill on demand. All she had to do was tell him. He'd even love her on her command. AU SasuSaku inspired by the video made by ExquisiteKOREAN
1. Encounter

**Ai no Tsubasa**

"_Black feathers floating around, surrounding me, engulfing me in a warm embrace. I reach out a hand to catch one celestial feather, and as I close my fist upon it, a bright glow shoots out, causing me to shut my eyes tight as the blinding light dominates over the darkness. Soon enough, my ears picked up the sound of flapping wings as the wind blew against me, soothing my skin, making me feel like my hair is as soft as silk, letting it be blown by the breeze. Slowly, my green irises widen in shock at the being before me. _

_So beautiful, so angelic, so ethereal;_

_I stare as the being looks at me with eyes the color of the abyss, letting me drown in deep pools of ebony. Sluggishly, my hand stretches out absent-mindedly towards him, and when he touched my outstretched hand, I was pulled into his arms wherein his black wings close in on me, preventing me from seeing things, protecting me from what's outside, and strangely, I felt like I didn't want to leave where I currently was, like I wanted to stay with the being, for eternity."_

"Boring…"

She looked up and narrowed her eyes at the girl who said it.

"If you ask me, I think it was so romantic…" another girl said with a dreamy sigh.

A smile made its way to her lips as she tilted her head slightly and beamed. "Thank you." The girl who gave the romantic comment smiled back while the one who said it was boring just rolled her eyes.

"Well, it was romantic and boring at the same time, and actually quite… I don't know, weird..?" a guy commented with a lazy look in his eyes. "Sorry Sakura, I'm just saying."

The teacher eyed her warily before opening his mouth to speak. "Well done though, Haruno-san, you may go back to your seat." She gave a nod and walked back to her chair which was located in the middle row of the teacher's further right side of the room, near the window. She looked back at her teacher when he told her to see him after class, telling her that he'd like to have a little chat with her about the piece of writing she came up with.

After giving another nod, the teacher called onto another to student to recite his work.

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Encounter**_

"You wanted to see me, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Ah, yes," he responded, looking up from his work when Sakura came walking inside the faculty room when one of the teachers led her to the silver-haired English teacher. "It's about your little story…" he whispered. She tilted her head a bit and blinked, giving a clueless look as Kakashi stood up and gestured the 17-year old sophomore to follow him. "Sensei, what about my writing?" she asked. Kakashi glanced at her. "Your writing is fine, it's just the content."

"Is it… too… unreal?"

"No, in fact, it's quite real."

Sakura would've had a question mark popping on top of her head due to her sensei's… confusing words.

"Then… what seems to be the problem?" she asked.

Kakashi stopped when they reached the back part of the school, where no one else was around. "Your description, it was…" he trailed off and looked up after giving a sigh. "Kurenai..." Sakura looked up and saw a raven-haired girl seated on a tree branch. Her wings were as black as her wavy locks, her eyes as red as blood, the same hue the short kimono she wore, patterned with white flower petals on the lower left, the hem of the yukata she wore reaching just above her knees, a white obi tied around her waist to secure what looked like an ivory-cased katana. "Kakashi-sama," she said, her head lowering in a low bow as she jumped and landed gracefully in front of Kakashi in a half-kneeling position, head still lowered.

"Sakura, this is Kurenai, my Shikai."

The pink-haired girl blinked and looked at Kakashi. "Shi… kai?" Kakashi gave a nod after telling Kurenai to stand up. He then began to explain to his pupil the terms that one must remember.

"Shikai, "Shi" is derived from "chi" which means "power", "Kai" means "break", combining the two, it would mean "Power Break". They are called "Shikai" because of their powers. They can control any element and even move objects. Their wings are celestial, but black. They appear human and angelic, but their blank faces and cold gazes say otherwise, thus, they are called "Demonic Angels" by most." Sakura gave a slow nod as she absorbed what her sensei told her. "Kurenai is my Shikai. I am her Chi-Ten."

"Chi-Ten?"

"Yes, I am her master."

"And..?"

"Masters, on the other hand, are either called by their names with the "-hime" attached if the superior is a girl, and the "-sama" attached if it's a guy. Masters are called "Chi-Ten", "chi" as in power, and "ten" coming from the term "tien" - the Chinese character for Heaven. It means that they have powers from heaven, and it's called a blessing by some." He closed his eyes for a while as he raised his index and middle finger up to his nose. Sakura felt the wind circle around them as leaves swirled, surrounding the three of them. "That's one example of a master's power." Kakashi said, opening his eyes and dropping his hand as the wind and leaves returned back to normal. "Although Chi-Ten aren't exactly masters of elements, unlike Shikai, but Chi-Ten are the ones that provide their Shikai the strength to move on."

"Oh…" she yelped when something landed on her shoulder. Her green eyes widened when she saw the small fluff ball with big, round, onyx eyes stare at her giddily. It had three strands of long hair that bent forward upon reaching its maximum peak, its tail composing of a long hair-like strand; the tip looking like a long leaf was attached to it. Aside from that, sprouting from the thing's sides was a pair of wings with three feathers. "That is called a Solaris." Kakashi said. "It is the very energy of the Shikai when they run out of chakra, or the so-called "chi", from overuse of powers. The Solaris are their source of power, and would need them to regenerate."

Sakura eyed the Solaris, its wings were a dark red, along with the bangs and tail, but his body was a lighter shade of crimson. "Kurenai calls it 'Shinku', another word for crimson, just like her name." Sakura giggled at the hyper ball of fluff as it flew around her in a frivolous manner. "Anyway, your work earlier," he eyed her. "Your description was like you summoned a high level Shikai."

"Huh? How can you tell?"

"Shikai with onyx orbs are considered high level ones." Kurenai spoke. "Or rather, when the wind is fierce yet surprisingly warm on you; that means that the Shikai wielding the wind is a high level one. I am a level lower." She did not tear her gaze from Sakura. "But it's mostly based on the eyes." Sakura gave a slow nod before turning back to Kakashi when he cleared his throat. "Now then, may I ask what gave you the idea to describe your Shikai with such words?"

Sakura looked down for a while, as if in deep thinking. "I don't know. I just… started writing it all down. Not exactly knowing what possessed me to do so." She said honestly. Kakashi and Kurenai looked at each other with serious gazes. "That must mean," Kurenai started, turning to Sakura. "That your Shikai is trying to contact you, warning you, telling you to summon him now." Sakura blinked. "How do I summon him?" she asked as Kakashi decided to answer her question. "It'll come to you naturally. There are two ways to summon your Shikai. One is when you're in life-threatening danger, and another is by your own free will of calling him. The success of summoning a Shikai depends on how much you want your Demonic Angel to be by your side. If you really want him to be there, it'll be easier for him to break his chains and come to you."

"Chains?"

Kurenai gave a nod. "Every Shikai can go rogue when released carelessly. That's why they are bound by chains. Heaven keeps them in place until they are called. However," she lifted a finger and tapped the gold band around her forehead. "Shikai are given some accessories to prevent them from going berserk. This band prevents me from unleashing my power, and if ever I do go out of control, only Kakashi-sama has the power to stop me."

The young girl gave a nod in understanding. "So, how come my Shikai wants me to call him so soon?"

"Shikai have an unusual instinct in them. They can tell whether something bad may happen to you soon, or not." Kakashi explained. "I'll assume that your Shikai happens to want to protect you from something that is about to come. He cannot be released by the Guardians (angels) up above, unless you call him."

"I'm not even sure if I really want him here…" she admitted. "But when I wrote those words…" she closed her eyes, the image of her Shikai appearing in her head. "I can imagine the whole thing happening, I can see everything clearly, as if it really occurred." She opened her eyes when she felt a hand placed on top of her head. She looked up to see Kurenai looking at her. "You must be a genjutsu Chi-Ten."

"Why genjutsu?"

"Well, you aren't familiar with Shikai, but then, you managed to see your Demonic Angel so clearly, it only means your mind is that strong." Kakashi said with a sheepish grin. Sakura looked at her watch and panicked. "I have to go, my mom wanted me home ten minutes ago!" she gave a bow to the two before running, not looking back as Kakashi eyed her warily and Kurenai giving a concerned look. "I would've thought you'd tell me to guard her." She said, turning to Kakashi who didn't look at her but at where Sakura ran off to. "I would have, but I want her to summon him." He glanced at Kurenai. "It_is_ him, right?" she gave a nod and turned back to where Sakura last left. "Should we inform them?" she asked. Kakashi shook his head. "No, not yet; not until he appears to her…"

"I still wonder though, Kakashi-sama," she said in a soft voice. "How can someone like him, who is not a pure breed, be able to reach such a level?"

"I, too, have no idea Kurenai." He sighed and turned around. "Come on, let's go home. I still need to finish your application form."

* * *

"I hope mom won't ground me just like that! She tends to become highly overprotective!" she said out loud, sprinting down the sidewalk, expertly avoiding the people she passed by. She then hopped over a railing and took a short-cut to the park and over to the construction site of a new building in Tokyo. Stopping to catch her breath, she panted and had a smile on her face. "Thank God for gymnastics and track and field." She said, straightening herself up, took a deep breathe-in and attempted to run once more when she suddenly felt her body fly backwards at such velocity, causing her back to hit the brick wall. "Ugh!" she bit her bottom lip at the process, causing blood to pour out.

She quickly snapped her eyes open when a pair of red eyes appeared in her mind, causing her to stare blankly into space as she pondered over what she saw. _"What was… that just now..?" _she looked up when a creature walked up to her, standing on two legs, the feet looking like claws, its hands looking like paws that had sharp nails, the fingers long and slender, the build of the body was bulky, except the waist was thin, and the face, don't get her started there, but she nearly puked upon seeing menacing yellow eyes staring at her, a wide mouth that had a sinister smirk, saliva dripping from one side as it gave a high shriek and took big strides towards her.

Sakura attempted to get up and move, but as soon as she was on her own two feet, something pulled her back to the brick wall. She looked at her wrists that were bound by thick, dark green vines, while her feet were trapped by thick branches which erupted from the ground, swirling around her ankle like snakes. "Shit." She cursed, looking up and glaring at the thing that was just three feet away. She felt disgusted at the sight of its tongue, seeing how so much saliva had dripped onto the ground when it licked its lips. _"No way… is this thing going to kill me?" _she wanted to kick herself mentally for being so stupid. Of course this creature would kill her. Why else would it have such a menacing look?

She was snapped from her thoughts when she felt its fingers grip onto her school uniform, tugging it as the buttons gave way. She blushed furiously and glared at the thing. "What the hell are you going to do?! Rape me?!" oh she did not like the look it gave her when she yelled those words. _"No way! Is this thing seriously planning to-!" _she shut her eyes tight and flinched when she felt its hot tongue lick her throat slow and hard. "G-get away from me…" she said, but it sounded like a whimper. She couldn't get her hands free from the vines, nor could she kick off the branches that secured her ankles._"Somebody, anybody, help." _She thought, shaking with rage and fear mixed together, wanting to vent her anger out at this demon-like being when its teeth ripped some parts of her uniform.

"Get away…" she whispered, and as the creature attempted to fully remove her clothing, she yelled.

Her eyes snapped open, staring widely at her attacker that now screeched in pain from the blazing fire that engulfed it. She still couldn't move because she was still bound, but she knew she'd still be frozen on the spot even if her wrists and ankles weren't tied. The demon began to roll over on the ground in an attempt to put out the fire, but as soon as the flames died down, a shower of mini icicles came shooting down from the sky, piercing the creature mercilessly and repeatedly until it gave a final cry of pain before dying, its corpse decomposing slowly until nothing was left but the purple blood it had, and the icicles that showered from the heavens.

"Sakura-hime…"

She looked up, shocked to see a boy whom she estimated to be around her age from his looks alone. He had a silver hoop earring on his left ear, a black collar around his neck that can be removed when you release the strap from the lock, a silver cross pendant held by small, black chains around his neck. His wings spread out from his back, as if covering her from anyone who would pass by. Soft, celestial feathers surrounded her when he lets his wings flap a bit, matching the color of his sleeveless shirt that was hidden underneath the sleeveless coat of the same color, the zipper started from his waist up to the middle of his collar bone, letting her still see his neck. Somehow, his clothing reminded her of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy, and she tried to get her mind back on what's happening now instead of thinking about the blonde character of the game. His pants were dark blue, and his shoes, like the rest of his clothing, was black.

"…"

Sakura tried to say something but realized that her throat suddenly went dry after she stared into his eyes: they were as black as night, as dark as his spiky and messy hair. The aura he had sent her to shiver a bit, but it wasn't the feeling of being afraid, but something about him just made her feel a bit tingly, something about his eyes made her feel entranced too much – as if she'd die if she looked away. He called her again, and she finally snapped back to reality when she heard him attach the 'hime' to her name. "You're my Shikai?!" she asked in disbelief as he gave a nod, his face still remaining impassive. "Seriously, you're my Demonic Angel? My protector..? My-"

"Sakura-hime," he cut her off. "As much as I'd hate to cut you off since you're my Chi-Ten, I have to in order to finish this conversation." She stared, mouth agape, eyes still wide and shocked. "I presume you are aware of your current situation right now as Chi-Ten?" he asked. She gave a nod. "Hn." He closed his eyes, knelt down on one knee before her, and introduced himself. "My name is Sasuke, and I am your Shikai even until the after life." She blinked and looked around. "Um… so, where's your Solaris?" she asked.

"Ryu is currently asleep in your residence."

"You know where I live?!"

"Yes Sakura-hime. As your Shikai, I must know where you go or stay in order to protect you from Kaiten."

Sakura blinked again. "Kaiten..?"

"The creature that attacked you is known as Kaiten. They are demons who devour the souls of Chi-Ten." He looked up at her. "However, they first have pleasure with female Chi-Ten, and torture male Chi-Ten, before eating their souls." His eyes widened a bit when she suddenly fainted, just in time for him to catch her as he blinked and looked at her swirly eyes. "…plea…sure..?" she managed to say despite her current condition. Sasuke sighed and carried his Chi-Ten bridal style, and soon flew off to her home.

* * *

She opened her eyes to see Sasuke carrying her daughter. "I see that she already called you." He looked up at the woman and bowed down a bit. "Kasumi-san." He greeted as the woman smiled and stood up from her kneeling position, her light blue kimono still looking neat despite her position earlier. She then walked down the two wooden steps of the huge temple they live in, and brushed away her daughter's bangs. "You don't need to be so formal with me Sasuke."

He lowered his head slightly as a sign of respect for an older woman. "Aa, but I'd like to keep our relationship formal and professional, since you are like a "sempai" to me as the younger students in Sakura-hime's school calls the older ones." Kasumi tilted her head slightly and smiled brightly at him. "You've been gathering a lot of data."

"Ryu does actually." He answered, glancing to his right when the light blue Solaris came flying towards him, its bangs and tail-end a dark blue, including the wings." Kasumi giggled. "And yet you told my daughter that Ryu was asleep."

"I did not want to scare her."

"That's true, but anyway…" Kasumi led him inside Sakura's room. "This is where you'll be sleeping as well. Tomorrow, you will be attending the same school and have the same classes Sakura has. But of course," she turned to Sasuke when he placed Sakura down on the futon. "We won't let her know that." A devious smile was on the lips of Sakura's mother as she giggled evilly. Sasuke remained impassive and just gave a nod to what the older girl said.

* * *

Her bright green eyes opened slowly and lazily as she tried to focus her vision on the ceiling. "Where..?" she slowly sat up and rubbed one of her eyes with her right hand, stopping when she saw Sasuke seated a few feet away, staring at her. "Ohayo, Sakura-hime." He said in a monotone voice, not really expressing how good the morning really is when he greeted her. Sakura, who still hasn't recalled what happened the other day, suddenly screamed.

The Shikai just blinked and closed his eyes, not bothering to calm his master down since she will eventually remember what had happened. "Who the hell are you?!" she demanded, pointing a finger at him. Sasuke merely shrugged and looked up at her. "Sakura-hime, please fix your robe." She blinked and looked down, seeing that the robe she had on was slowly falling off of one of her shoulders and that the knot was tied loosely. Again, she yelled. "What the hell?!" she fixed her clothing and glared at Sasuke. "What did you do to me?!"

"I just saved your life from a Kaiten, your mother was the one who changed your clothing, hime-san."

At the mention of 'Kaiten', Sakura stopped tying the knot of her robe and recalled how the demon almost raped her. She shuddered at the thought and hugged herself, her head lowering and her eyes shut tight. She still can't get rid of the image and the feeling of its claws touching her. "Sakura-hime," her eyes widened, letting the stored tears fall on the wooden floor of the temple, shocked that her Shikai would hug her from behind. "If you don't like it, you can push me away, I'm just doing what I think is right…" his voice was softer than normal, as if he was trying to comfort her. "No, it's fine…" she murmured, touching his arms that were around her waist. "It's really… comforting, thanks…"

She closed her eyes, absent-mindedly leaning back to him, raising her head a bit since his was lowered, just near her neck. She felt relaxed in his arms, now knowing why those black wings she dreamt of lulled her to him. The feeling was really serene and peaceful, and she found herself wanting to feel this all the time. "Hime…" he whispered. "Mm?" she asked, eyes still closed. "Your breathing is fast, and so is your heartbeat. I can't tell why."

Sakura's face turned beat red as her eyes widened. She soon pulled herself away from him and laughed nervously, Sasuke giving her a confused and worried look. "I… um… well…" she stammered at her words. Her face turned redder when he leaned down and touched her forehead with his, eyes closed as he tried to feel her temperature. "Your body heat is rising every second…" he commented, opening his eyes to look at her, and that caused her face to turn even redder if possible. Her breathing was hitched too when she stared at him, and he didn't drop his gaze but just continued to observe his Chi-Ten.

"Are you not feeling well hime-san?"

"H-huh..? No! I'm perfectly alright!" she said, taking a few stapes back and waving her arms up and down, looking as if she's attempting to fly with her hands. "You don't have to worry, I just need to take a shower and… yeah." She rushed to the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief when she got there. Her eyes traveled towards the ceiling as she leaned the back of her head against the sliding paper door. _"I can't believe I'm acting like a love-struck girl… towards my Shikai none the less! Ugh!" _she sat on the floor and buried her face on her palms. _"Okay Sakura, clear your head, Sasuke is your Shikai! You are not to feel this way towards him! Understand?"_

…

"_Even if he is hot…" _she blushed. "AH!! This is not working!!"

"Is something wrong Sakura-hime?"

She yelled when he suddenly slid the door open, wondering what was going on. "S-Sasuke! You idiot! Don't come barging in like that EVER again!" she pushed him outside and slammed the door shut, muttering curses under breath as she removed her robe and took a bath. "This is not good…" she murmured to herself.

* * *

"…there's something you're not telling me mom…" Sakura said.

Kasumi only giggled and continued chopping the vegetables. "What do you mean dear?" she asked as Sakura drank her orange juice after nibbling on her toasts. "There's nothing I would hide from you." The teenager rolled her eyes and took a bite from her egg sandwich. "Why did you not tell me anything about you knowing what a Shikai is or what a Kaiten or Chi-Ten are?"

"You never asked. Why do you think do we live in a temple?" she asked with a smile. "And your father knows more about them than I do." She glanced at Sasuke who looked back at her with understanding. His Chi-Ten isn't aware of who her mother really is. "Anyway, I need to get to school." She stood up and grabbed her bag. "Sakura put your coat on." Kasumi said in a playfully stern voice. "Mom, you know that I don't do that!" she said back, looking down at her uniform which composed of a white long-sleeved blouse, a red tie, a dark blue vest over it with the same colored jacket tied around her waist and a black skirt. Unlike most of the students in her school, she wore an all-black boots reaching just two inches above her ankles instead of school shoes, and black socks to go with it.

"It's bad enough that you're not wearing the proper footgear."

"Sheesh. The school won't mind as long as I keep my grades up!" she then ran outside, not wanting to hear more from her mother. She loved the woman and all, but hey, she was just a teenager who, like all the other normal kids, would occasionally disagree with their parents. "You're not one to follow rules, are you, hime?"

She yelled when she saw Sasuke flying just a bit above her. "And you always seem to forget my presence…"

"Why are you following me?!"

"…It's pretty obvious that it's my job."

"Well, people will see you flying around! They'll think-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence when he landed on the floor silently. "Your wings…" she muttered. He blinked and glanced at the black celestial thing that was attached to him. "My wings, hime?"

"Yes. You need to blend in with humans if you're going to follow me around."

He stopped walking and turned to Ryu who gave a nod and closed its eyes. Sakura's eyes widened when the blue ball of fluff glowed, along with Sasuke's wings. Soon, Sasuke was like a normal human being, save that his clothes weren't what you'd think would be casual. But it's better than having to fly around in public.

A little later, they reached the school and Sakura quickly dragged him to a secluded place. "Alright, you wait here; you can't come inside with me since people will question you or me about it. Just stay here and wait for me to come back, okay?"

He gave a nod and Sakura soon left, not noticing how Ryu reappeared behind him and beamed at Sasuke when it said its name. (Just like how a poke'mon says its name) He glanced at the Solaris and gave a nod to it. Again, Ryu began to glow and within seconds, Sasuke's clothes were changed, and the things he needed were there. "Good job Ryu, hide here." He opened the zipper of a bag and Ryu flew in, making sure it kept quiet as Sasuke closed it and slung it on his right shoulder. He looked at himself first before making sure his collar and earring were still in place. Once he was satisfied, he walked towards the entrance of the school.

* * *

She sighed and sat down on her chair, her shoulders slumped and looking as if she carried something really heavy. She nearly jumped when someone gave her a light tap on the shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that it was only Hinata. "You scared me…" she whispered, smiling when the long-haired girl gave an apologetic look. "Is something wrong, Sakura?" she asked, placing a hand on one of the pink-haired girl's shoulders. "Nothing, I just didn't get a good night's sleep last night."

"Alright class, settle down." They all looked to the front when their teacher came in. "The bell just rung so it's time to start another school day." Most of the students couldn't believe their eyes when they noticed that Kakashi was early today. "We will be having a new friend, so please take your seats and remain quiet." He turned to the door. "Come on in."

Sakura gasped when she saw who it was.

"I would like you all to meet Sasuke. He just transferred recently."

"What the heck are you doing here?!" Sakura yelled, standing up and staring wide-eyed at Sasuke who sighed and twitched. _"Really, she needs to control herself…" _

"Oh, so you already know him Sakura? That's good!" Kakashi beamed, but the glint in his eyes told her otherwise. She knew that he knew who Sasuke was. "What relationship do you have with him then?" the silver-haired man asked with an innocent smile.

Sakura just stared at Kakashi then at Sasuke, knowing very well that her classmates were gaping at her, wanting to know. "I'm his…uh…" what could she say? There was no way she'd tell them that she was his master and he was her… guardian.

"I'm her boyfriend."

_**To be continued…** _

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 2: Contract_

She stared back at him for a moment, contemplating on what he just said before lowering her head, wondering if it was really the only option. What he said had a point, and she couldn't say anything to counter his words. He was cunning alright; Kakashi sure wasn't lying about her Shikai. Sasuke was really a high level one, and she's not sure whether she should be proud to be his Chi-Ten or not. Without anything else to say, she gave one last sigh and looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "Fine, but only if-" her eyes widened when she got cut off with his lips on hers.


	2. Contract

**Ai no Tsubasa**

Her eyes widened at his answer, and her classmates were much more surprised than she was. Kakashi seemed to look shocked for a moment but it turned to an amused glint. Sasuke, as always, remained impassive. It shocked Sakura when he suddenly smirked at her.

"Didn't know you missed me that much," and he winked. "Hime-chan…"

The girls squealed as they had their fists near their lips, their bodies shaking from right to left, feeling goose bumps crawl up and down their skin from Sasuke's pose and line. He looked so damn hot there, and Sakura was fighting back the urge to jump at him. How can she when her soul is floating around in the air, her body nothing but a shell as her female classmates surrounded her and cried at how lucky she was, asking so many questions and all giggling at the possibilities of what Sasuke and Sakura could be doing during break time?

"Look! He even has a collar! Sakura-chan! We didn't know you had a naughty mind there!" One girl said giddily, tapping Sakura's forehead lightly. "And he has an earring on his left ear! He must be a bad boy type! Sakura-chan is so lucky and-" the girl got cut off when Sakura couldn't take it anymore and fainted.

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Contract**_

She slowly opened her eyes and blinked, trying to take in her surroundings. "Where..?"

"You're in the clinic, hime-san."

Her eyes widened and she sat up, looking at Sasuke who was seated next to her bed, expression impassive but his eyes told her that he was concerned for her health. _"What the heck? And just earlier he was like… flirting with me!"_ she sighed and looked down. "What did you mean by…" she trailed off, glancing at him as Ryu popped from behind his right shoulder and flew towards her.

"Ryu!" it said with a smile. Sakura smiled back and raised her hands to let the Solaris rest on her open palms. "I'm fine Ryu, don't worry." She answered.

"I'm sorry if I startled you a while ago hime, but it's part of the contract."

"Contract?"

He gave a nod as she stared at him for a while, wondering what he meant by that.

"You see," they turned towards the door where Kakashi entered, followed by Kurenai who was wearing work clothes for teachers, same as Kakashi's except she was wearing a skirt. "A Shikai and a Chi-Ten can't just walk around and blend in with humans if they show their true roles." Sakura titled her head, a sign that meant that she needed more details. Kakashi smiled in amusement. "Basically, you two have to act as lovers in school or when you're out in the streets. It's only when you're alone with us or another Chi-Ten and Shikai, or at home, will you be able to let your secret out. Shikai may be a common legend, a favorite tale of old folks and children alike, but it is not normal in our world."

"If the wrong people would ever find out about our existence, they'll do anything to get our powers." She turned back to Sasuke when he spoke, frowning when he said that. "What do you mean by wrong people, Sasuke?"

"Just like there is heaven and hell, or Kaiten and Shikai, there is also the good Chi-Ten and the bad." He explained. "When we're given to the wrong hands, chaos will ensue in this world. Because of that, the Guardians from above have made a rule. The good Chi-Ten will be the only ones entitled to have a Shikai."

"So, in order to hide from these Chi-Ten, you have to pretend to be normal humans…" Sakura concluded, earning a nod from her Shikai. "Aside from that, these kinds of Chi-Ten have the power to control us when they want. But in order to do so, they'll need to go to drastic measures." Sakura blinked, wondering why so Sasuke explained further. "Shikai are extremely loyal to their Chi-Ten, no matter what happens, they will never betray their rightful masters. It takes more than defeating us to get us."

"The worst possible thing the negative Chi-Ten can do is to threaten the Shikai that he or she will eliminate the Shikai's original master." Kakashi added. "I believe that that will be the very reason why a Shikai will have no choice but to go to his new Chi-Ten, especially since their master's lives will be at stake." She noticed how Kakashi turned serious at this. "That is why you must do whatever it takes to fight for your Shikai, and to act like normal lovers around each other."

He turned to Sasuke and Sakura noted how her teacher was looking at her Shikai worriedly. "Sakura, Sasuke is a high-level Shikai, he is someone who will be sought after by a lot of bad Chi-Ten." He turned back to her. "He is a rare type of Shikai, so you should be extra careful in taking care of him, as he takes care of you."

* * *

During lunch break, Sakura still felt weird around Sasuke when he acted like her boyfriend. He was really different from the real Sasuke that she knew, and she would always turn red when he does anything sweet around her, not to mention that all of her female classmates and friends kept squealing at them, rushing to Sasuke to make an interview on how he courted Sakura or what he saw in her, at the same time asking the girl what made her answer Sasuke since she hasn't dated any guy ever.

It was tiring, and she was really grateful that her Shikai would ask if she was feeling well or if she needed him to carry her and all. But of course, it only attracted more of their fans, and angered a lot of_her_fans.

"Sasuke, you know, you really don't have to-" she got cut off when he fed her the piece of sushi that was on the bento box her mother prepared for her. She blushed when the girls around them began squealing again, and when Sasuke gave her a smile. "But I want to, hime-chan." She didn't know how much more she could take, but she was somewhat thankful that he still hasn't shown too much public displays of affection, and yet a part of her wanted him to kiss her, even if it wasn't on the lips. _"Oh god, I'm fantasizing again!" _

"Hime..?"

She looked up when he gave her those concerned eyes again. "It's nothing Sasuke, just thinking about something." She answered, looking down with her face still red. "I'm sorry if you feel uncomfortable about this…" she glanced at him to see his head a bit lowered, eyes showing how he was feeling guilty. It only made her inner self squeal like the other girls around them who were staring at them with anticipation, wanting to see what happens next.

She sighed and gave a small smile, placing a hand on top of his, ignoring the girls who screamed giddily. "You don't have to feel guilty about it Sasuke, and stop apologizing all the time, you're just doing what's right." She looked away when his gaze was completely on her. "But there really is no other way, huh?"

"Aa. It's the best way to explain why I keep following you around and why I am protective of you. No one would believe if we pretend to be siblings, so being in a relationship is much more effective." He turned to her. "And besides, hime, we often say words that will make everyone suspect of what's going on between us, therefore, this is a good cover-up."

"And… what if someone asks us to prove it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, when someone asks us that, you'll have to kiss me and…" she turned beet red. "…are you even allowed to do that to your Chi-Ten?"

"Only if our Chi-Ten seals the contract with us…"

"What kind of contract?"

Sasuke tried to recall what the Guardians had taught them when they were still learning to control their powers. "I don't know what it's called," he said, looking down. "They say it involves physical contact, but I'm not sure."

She stared back at him for a moment, contemplating on what he just said before lowering her head, wondering if it was really the only option. What he said had a point, and she couldn't say anything to counter his words. He was cunning alright; Kakashi sure wasn't lying about her Shikai. Sasuke was really a high level one, and she's not sure whether she should be proud to be his Chi-Ten or not. Without anything else to say, she gave one last sigh and looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "Fine, but only if-" her eyes widened when she got cut off with his lips on hers.

Everyone who saw this instantly beamed and cried with joy, giggling with happiness, feeling high at the romance displayed between the two.

Sakura didn't know how to react; her mind was still wondering what had made her Shikai suddenly kiss her like this. When he finally pulled away, she found herself missing the feel of his lips, and how she felt odd when he did so. "Why did you… kiss me..?"

Sasuke blinked. "Was that what it was called..?" he asked in a whisper. Sakura looked at him. "I was wondering what 'kiss' was when you first mentioned it, but I had a feeling that it had something to do with physical contact in the intimate way, but now that I know what it is, a kiss is the seal of our contract." She gaped, her face still flushed. "But it's only sealed with mine, not yours."

"What do you mean by that…?" she asked, although she had a pretty good feeling. "This seal is like a signature, wherein two or more people who are involved in it must sign the deal, the same way as how we need to close this pact." He paused before looking at her again. "You'll have to kiss me too or else you're the only one allowed to show what you call public displays of affection."

She felt her heartbeat increase when she fully took in what he said. She didn't know if she was ready for this, but she had to, otherwise, it would be unfair for his part. How could he prove to others that she was his girlfriend when he's not allowed to touch her unless she kisses him to finalize their agreement? Without much of a thought, she took a deep breathe in and closed her eyes, then leaned closer to Sasuke.

Her eyes opened when she felt one of his fingers press against her lips. She rolled her eyes up to him with a questioning gaze and Sasuke just looked at her. "Don't force yourself hime, I don't want you to feel that you need to do this, because unlike me, you're a Chi-Ten, a human being, and we are not supposed to feel like we're forcing you. You have to do this only when you really want to, not because it's unfair on our part."

"_Holy shit, it's like he read my mind!"_

He gave a small smile of reassurance. "I can wait anytime when you're ready."

"How can you tell if what we're feeling is true or not?" she asked.

"Shikai are sensitive to what their Chi-Ten are feeling." He looked at her again. "So if you're scared, we'll know. If you're jealous, we are aware of it." She sighed and leaned her forehead on his chest, causing him to blink as he placed his hands on her shoulders, unsure what to do with their position. Ryu still hasn't gathered enough data for him to perfectly do his role, but for the time being, he'll have to make do with what knowledge he has with regards to being a boyfriend for his Chi-Ten. "I have so many questions in my mind right now, but I don't know where to start…"

"Hime," she looked up at him. "We are like ordinary human beings, except that we serve only our Chi-Ten, no one else, unless our masters tell us to follow this person's orders, that will be the only time that we will listen. Aside from that, we feel what you feel."

"Feel… what we feel..?" she asked, tilting her head. He gave a nod as he tried to figure out how to explain it. "When you're angry, I will feel that too. It's somewhat related to sympathizing, I think…" she smiled a bit, finding it amusing on how he was still unsure of the things in her world. But what the heck, at least she wouldn't feel lonely anymore when her mother leaves her at home for work on weekends or late afternoons. At least she'll feel a lot safer than before.

"Well, I just hope that my questions will be answered with each passing day." She straightened herself up and picked a piece of sushi with her chopsticks. "Now, open up!" she said with a grin. Sasuke obeyed and opened his mouth as his Chi-Ten fed him like what he did earlier, both of them ignoring the stares and squeals they were receiving from the people around them.

* * *

She stood up when she was done in fixing her things before walking towards Sasuke who was seated at the back in the same column as she was. "Hey, Sasuke, I have track and field practice today, will you be fine waiting for me to finish?" he gave a nod and followed her outside.

After she changed in the girl's locker room, she told him to sit down on one of the bleachers close to her warm-up area. "We'll be done by five o'clock. You can read some of our school's books when you get bored watching, or whatever it is you do on your spare time." He gave another nod and she proceeded to her group mates.

Her seniors began to question her on who Sasuke was, so she answered that he was her boyfriend and they, like her classmates, all giggled and screamed, getting giddy and fired up at the idea of their little Sakura being all grown-up.

Sakura just laughed nervously and proceeded to stretching her arms and legs before doing a few laps of jogging. All the while, she glanced at Sasuke and blushed whenever she'd get caught in his eyes. It took a slap on the back from her team captain to get her attention back on the sport.

"Sakura, I know you're excited to go back to him and all but you have to focus here."

The sophomore turned red and glared at her team captain who was having a smug-looking smile on her supposedly innocent face. "I AM focusing!" she yelled, going into starting position as most of her sempai laughed and got ready to time her speed. "Alright, on your mark, get set, go!" and she was off, her speed increasing as she let her anger and embarrassment get the best of her.

As she sprinted around the track field, something caught Sasuke's eyes and he instantly turned his head to the direction, his brows narrowing suspiciously, waiting for something or someone to come out. After a few moments, he turned back to Sakura, his guard up in case whatever it was that bothered his senses were to suddenly attack.

"Ryu!" the Solaris alerted.

His eyes widened and he quickly ran to where Sakura was heading, albeit much faster than the girl since he used the wind to aid him, making it look as if he were running on air. When he was close to the girl, he tackled her, causing everyone to gasp and wonder what was wrong but they instantly stopped when something from behind the bleachers hissed loudly. Sakura immediately clung to Sasuke's arm who pushed his Chi-Ten behind him, going into a defensive stance when a Kaiten emerged, yellow eyes clouded by hunger and lust upon seeing the pink-haired teenager.

The Kaiten made a few steps forward as Sakura's teammates screamed and asked each other what that thing was. Sakura, worried for their sake, turned to the girls and yelled at them. "What the heck are you standing around for?! Run and get Kakashi-sensei! He'll know what to do!"

"But what about you Sakura-chan?! We can't leave you with that-"

"Just do what she tells you and go! I'll take care of Sakura!"

The girls were a bit startled when Sasuke yelled at them as well but nodded none the less and made a run for it to call Kakashi. Sakura was surprised when he addressed her by her first name, not sure if it was a good thing or not for a Shikai to do that. But now was not the time to be thinking about that because a Kaiten was attacking them.

"Tch. Ryu!"

The Solaris immediately went to Sasuke when it was called as it flapped its little wings hard, causing a large gust of wind to come as it attacked the Kaiten while Sasuke was still in the middle of getting his wings out and changing into battle gear. When the breeze died down, Sasuke was finished and was now clothed in his original attire, ready to fight. "Hime, I'm sorry for calling you by your first name earlier, please prepare a penalty for my rude behavior."

Sakura was startled at what he said that she nearly jumped when the Kaiten screeched, challenging Sasuke into a battle. The Shikai, of course, defended his Chi-Ten and made sure that his master wouldn't be touched by this demon. When the Kaiten opened its mouth and breathed out a black flame, Sasuke quickly picked Sakura up in his arms and flew upwards, Ryu following in order to provide assistance when needed.

"Ryu, look for a weakness!" Sasuke ordered as the blue ball of fluff nodded and flew around the Kaiten, keeping its distance and almost moving in the speed of light, all the while with Sasuke dodging the Kaiten's attacks. "Ryu!" Sasuke turned to his Solaris when it spoke up, nodding when the fluff ball informed him of the Kaiten's elemental weakness.

"Hime, please hold on tight."

When he felt her arms wrap around him tightly, he dropped one hand and pulled it near his lips, his index and middle finger closed together, looking as if he was performing a ninja technique. _"Here goes." _He thought, closing his eyes to gather energy before opening them and extending out his palm towards the Kaiten. A jet of water came shooting out towards the demon, followed by a gust of wind to make the current a lot stronger. _"Since this Kaiten used a fire element earlier, water combined with wind should do the trick." _

The Kaiten was pushed back against the wall, cracks forming due to the impact as it struggled to get up. Sasuke finished it up with a few swing of his free arm, creating sharp wind waves to slice the demon into three, ending its lifetime on earth.

Before he flew down towards the ground, he made Ryu double check if the Kaiten was really dead or not. When the Solaris gave the go signal, Sasuke flew down slowly, landing gently on the track and putting Sakura down who was a bit caught up in the battle that occurred earlier. _"Just now… he eliminated that Kaiten in less than five minutes, the same way he got rid of the first one that attacked me…" _she glanced at Sasuke from the corner of her eyes, seeing how he looked at her with worry from her silence. _"Kakashi-sensei wasn't kidding. When he said high-level, he _really_ meant it."_

"Are you alright, hime?"

She blinked and smiled before giving a nod. "Mm. Thanks to you, I'm fine."

Her cheeks turned slightly red when he gave a small smile of relief. "That's good to hear." He blinked when she suddenly looked down.

"Hime..?"

"I-it's nothing." She said too quickly, laughing nervously and turning her back to him. "If you say so," he replied. "Have you thought of my consequence for being rude earlier?" he asked. Sakura turned back to him. "Is it really necessary?"

"Aa, it is."

She sighed and tried to think of something that was light and not harsh. Besides, he had to call her by her first name to get her teammates to leave, so it was called for and something that can't be avoided. "In that case," she faced him with a smile. "Here's my punishment. Close your eyes!" he did, wondering what she could be doing. His brows furrowed though when he felt her lips press lightly against his, but he did not dare open his eyes, because she told him to close them, and until she says it's okay, he won't open his eyes, even when she pulled away.

"Ne, you can open your eyes now." He did, and he just looked at her confusingly as she continued beaming at him. "It's kind of like a punishment, since normal guys who aren't into intimacy would hate that, but you can consider it as both a penalty and a thank you for saving me." She shrugged and turned around, hands clasped behind her back. "I guess that seals our contract then." She gave him another heartwarming smile as he just stared at her, eyes continuously blinking, as Ryu came up from behind him, landing on his shoulder.

"Sakura, Sasuke!"

The two looked up to see Kakashi running towards them with Kurenai in her Shikai form. The teacher stopped and looked at the dead Kaiten, eyes wide at the way it was eliminated. "Exactly how many elements do you control..?" he asked the male Shikai.

"All of them, but my main ones are Fire and Lightning."

Kurenai landed on the ground and retracted her wings, changing back to her uniform as Sasuke did the same. "Then that means Sakura has water and earth as her main elements." The female Shikai said. Sakura just tilted her head to the side. "I don't control any elements…"

"Then you have to undergo training." Kakashi concluded, turning to her. "Everyday, after school, I will train you at your temple. You must master your main elements and know how to use the rest in order to heal your Shikai better if he is badly wounded in battle."

"I don't even know any healing techniques…" Sakura muttered.

The silver-haired teacher sighed exasperatedly as he gave a tired look at his student. "I can't believe you got Sasuke as your Shikai with that level you're in." Sakura took that as an insult and glared at Kakashi. "Why you-" she got cut off by Sasuke who was also glaring at the said teacher. "You really have no right to insult Sakura-hime, Kakashi."

"Hey now, I'm just telling the truth, no need to get all defensive…" he said, laughing nervously and raising both hands up in the air for defense as Kurenai took a step forward and bowed down a bit to the two teenagers. "I apologize on behalf of my master," she straightened herself up afterwards. "But you must understand that Kakashi-sama means well, and that he only wants you to improve to be able to defend your Shikai at all costs."

"And it seems that Sasuke needs to meditate to control his emotions. It's not always good if both Chi-Ten and Shikai feel the same way. Both must have at least, at times, independent feelings."

"What do you mean..?" Sakura asked.

"Take for example, you got mad at Sasuke, therefore, he will also feel anger, but not towards anyone or you, but at himself, for whatever reason you got mad at him, and it may lead to trouble in fighting properly. Another bad example, if you get mad at yourself, then he will get angry at you." He explained. "I hope you got what I meant."

Sakura nodded, agreeing to Kakashi's explanation as she turned to Sasuke then back at the male Chi-Ten. "So, when does my training and his start?"

"Right now of course!" Kakashi beamed.

* * *

She sighed heavily and plopped down on her futon, not bothering to change her uniform. Kakashi sure trained her alright, it nearly drained her stamina. She envied Sasuke when all he had to do was follow Kurenai's instructions in meditating, and he was still out there even when Kakashi and Kurenai had said that he can stop. "This is so frustrating! Why did he become my Shikai in the first place if our levels are so far apart?"

From behind the sliding door of her room, her mother smiled amusingly and proceeded to the kitchen where Kurenai and Kakashi offered to help prepare dinner. "You know, I'm really thankful of you for training my daughter, she really has no clue about these things." Kasumi said with a giggle. "I never thought that she'd also summon a Shikai of her own like her father, that's why I didn't bother to train her myself." Kurenai turned to her. "You mean, she has no idea of what you did in the past?"

Kasumi gave a nod and sighed, her smile turning to a bittersweet one as she reminisced the times she spent with her deceased husband. "A Shikai follows his or her master, even in the afterlife, unless the Chi-Ten tells the Shikai to stay behind." Kakashi glanced at her. "The fifth rule of a Shikai." He murmured, turning to face Kasumi fully. "Kakashi-san, Kurenai-san," she turned her head to them with a smile. "Why not stay here to aid the two? Or rather," she glanced at Sakura's room when the door slid open and her daughter dragged herself outside to where Sasuke was. "Why not help my daughter..?"

The three of them eyed Sakura who poked Sasuke repeatedly on the arm but the Shikai still wouldn't budge. Frustrated, she gathered enough energy to perform a water technique attack and directed it at Sasuke. She laughed when he was forced onto the ground, soaking with water as he blinked and eyed his Chi-Ten who held her stomach while laughing. "Y-you-!" she couldn't say what she wanted to say because she was too busy laughing. "You wouldn't budge!" she laughed again. "So I had to do that to get you to move!"

Sasuke blinked again before sitting up as Sakura knelt down before him and smiled brightly. "And yet you still look at me like that. It's so funny and cute at the same time."

"Aa…" he looked down for a while as Sakura continued eyeing him. "Um… hime, can you… stop staring at me like that..?" she tilted her head when he said that. "Hm..? Why?"

"I feel… uncomfortable…" he murmured, his cheeks a bit red. She giggled and poked his cheek. "Sasuke, you're so cute like that. Hey, it's a Friday, why don't I take you around town so that you can gather more data about this place?" she asked, slamming her right fist on her left palm at the idea. He blinked and raised a brow in question as she laughed again at his reaction. "Let's just go." She stood up and pulled him up with her. "But you'll need to change in normal clothes."

"Ryu can handle that for me hime."

"In that case, I'll go get changed and tell mom we'll take a tour around the area." She skipped towards her room to get changed as he called Ryu.

"I'm not sure what it's called Ryu, but she said she'd tour us around…"

He heard a chuckle and he turned to see Kakashi walk towards him. "In the human world, we refer to it as a date, Sasuke."

"A… date..?" he turned to Ryu who looked back at him with the same clueless expression.

"Yes. It's when a boy and a girl go out together, alone, to have fun."

"I see…" he listened some more as Kakashi explained further, Ryu gathering as much data as it can while Sasuke nodded at every word Kakashi mentioned.

Sakura finished up after putting on her black socks and boots she wears for school. Kasumi looked at her daughter and giggled. "I like your look Sakura." She commented, eyeing her daughter who had on a black spaghetti-strapped shirt, a white jacket with the sleeves folded up to her elbow, and a dark blue denim skirt that ended on her knees. "You taking in another new look?"

"No mom, just matching my clothes with Sasuke." She stuck her tongue out at her mother who giggled.

"Where is your Shikai?"

"I don't know with Kakashi-sensei." The two girls walked around, finding Kakashi with Sasuke who now stood with new clothing. Sakura was right about matching her clothes with his. Sasuke had a white long sleeved polo with the buttons undone and the sleeves folded. He had a black shirt underneath and he still wore dark blue jeans and an all black rubber shoes. He still had the collar around his neck, the silver hoop earring on his left ear and the silver cross pendant that was secured by the black chain hanging from his neck.

Kakashi chuckled at this. "I had no idea you were wearing matching colors."

Sakura blushed and laughed nervously. Sasuke turned to Ryu, the Solaris giving a nod as it attempted to change Sasuke's clothing's colors. "No need!" Sakura said, running towards Ryu, just in time to stop the Solaris. "I'll just change into something else."

Sasuke was about to protest but Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and turned to Sakura. "It doesn't matter anyway, it's night time, so no one will really mind if you match."

"No way sensei, what if I run into one of my 'enemies' in school?" she asked before running off. "I'll just change my jacket to black and my top to white."

"Inverted colors then..." Kakashi concluded, nodding.

Sasuke just remained standing there, trying to remember everything that Kakashi told him.

* * *

"So, where do you want to go?" she asked as they walked down the sidewalk. "It doesn't really matter, hime, since you were the one who asked me out."

She tried to come up with something that could make this so-called date better. "Why don't we go eat dinner then?" she asked, taking his hand and pulling him to the direction of the busy part of the city, Ryu flying closely behind them, careful not to be seen by normal people or negative Chi-Ten.

His eyes scanned the place when she finally slowed down. There was a border that separated the sea and the ground they stood on, making the place very windy due to the body of water beyond the boundary. There were tables and chairs set up, waiters walking around, carrying trays of food and drinks, empty plates and used glasses, or just their trusty pen and notepad to take the customers' orders. He took in everything as Ryu made sure to keep out of sight while saving the data it was getting.

"Let's sit here." She said, pulling him towards a table for two that was near the border. He could hear the waves crash against the cement wall and how he got sprayed a bit by the saltwater, but he did not care about it that much. "Hey, what're you ordering?" she asked when she was finished with hers. He looked at her as the waiter waited for what he wanted. "Um…" he looked down, unsure of what to say. She giggled and ordered for him instead. "Just act like a normal human being Sasuke, consider this night as some sort of day-off from your duty."

He gave a slow nod, unsure of whether he should or not. But since his Chi-Ten says so, then he might as well. "You know, I always wonder," she began as he tilted his head a bit. "How are Shikai born?"

"It… depends…"

"On what?"

"On who the parents are." He answered. "Some say that a Chi-Ten and a Shikai can give birth to either of the two."

"Then… who are your parents..?"

"Sorry, hime, but…" he looked down a bit. "Our past lives are erased from our minds the moment we undergo our training."

Her eyes widened at this, she suddenly felt pity or sadness upon hearing that. Having born to be trained to serve your Chi-Ten for life and having no memory of who you truly are or who your family is, it's a life she wouldn't be able to live down. But like he said, the memory of being born into a family will be eradicated. "But what I do know is that it was my mother who gave me my name. That was what the Guardians told me when they called me 'Sasuke'."

"But to live without even knowing where you came from or who you are…" she looked down, her eyes boring sorrow. "Hime," upon his call, she looked up, surprised to see his lips curved upwards, forming a smile. "You don't need to worry about my life, it's my job to do that, for yours."

"Sasuke," she whispered. "I can't help but feel-" she wasn't able to finish when someone yelled and pointed towards something. Ryu alerted Sasuke and the Shikai got up, only to be thrown over the border and crash down the sea, Ryu calling out to him as it remained beside Sakura who was frozen at what just happened.

A screech alerted her, and she turned around, only to scream when a Kaiten had closed its claws around her neck and pinned her against the border, with Ryu trying its best to get rid of the demon. _"S-Sasuke…"_she tried to pull off the finger-like claws but the Kaiten won't let go. What made it worse was when she opened her eyes, she saw another Kaiten busy fighting with Ryu. This one holding her was about to lust over her before draining her soul. It closed in on her, and she couldn't hold back her yell any longer.

"Sasuke!!"

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 3: Pain_

"Just let me feel this way towards you!" she yelled, causing his eyes to widen a bit at her outburst. "I'm only human Sasuke, and even if I am your Chi-Ten, try to understand how it makes me feel whenever you get hurt because of me! Just let me be sad for you, don't stop me from feeling it!" she leaned her head on his chest and cried, her hands gripping tightly on his shirt as his went to her shoulders, grasping it lightly, silence engulfing them as only her sobs could be heard in the room. There was something odd about what she was feeling, and he could sense it too, since he had the same emotion running inside of him. She was in pain, though not physically but emotionally, and somehow, he shared the same feelings too.

* * *

_A/N: Um… Did I leave you in another cliffhanger again? Haha. Sorry, but they do exist for attracting purposes you know. Hehe. _


	3. Pain

**Ai no Tsubasa**

Those yellow eyes…

They looked as if they can see through her body, which was not such a good thing because she felt like she was being violated by just that look the Kaiten sent her. It gave her an unpleasant feeling. Despite her training with Kakashi earlier, she couldn't move with fright – it was like the Kaiten had given a numbing effect to her.

Ryu couldn't get rid of the other one by itself, and it was having a hard time to keep up.

A Solaris gets its powers from the sun. And though they take a long time to get drained, gathering data for their partner Shikai causes a lot of energy to be used up, and having to fight on its own against a Kaiten only lessens its power further.

"_Move…"_she told herself. _"Move, damn it!" _her fingers twitched, and she continued willing herself to move. "Just fucking move!" she yelled, finally able to raise her arms and shoot out a jet of water from her palms, causing the Kaiten to stumble backwards as she realized that she managed to defend her own self.

"I… did it..?" she asked, enthusiasm overpowering her. Ryu's calling alerted her that she turned to help the Solaris out by shooting another water attack at the other Kaiten. She ran over to Ryu and allowed it to rest in her arms, eyes were droopy and feeling drained. "It's okay Ryu," she whispered, cuddling the Solaris. "I'll take care of you." She gave a determined look as the two Kaiten stood up and growled at her.

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Pain**_

"_What should I do? I don't even know their weakness yet, and water is the only element I've barely mastered." _A sweat dripped down her forehead. _"I don't know any other attacks yet, the one I did earlier was the only one I've mastered completely, doing the other attacks would be risky, for both me and Ryu."_ She gritted her teeth as the two Kaiten charged towards her, causing Sakura's back to hit the wall and realize that she had nowhere else to go. _"What should I do?!" _she shut her eyes tight, praying that she'll be able to fight against these two.

"Sakura-hime!"

She looked up and saw Sasuke stretch out his hand at her, his wings present on his back as he gave her a knowing look. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her to him, just in time as the two Kaiten crashed against the border, hissing in pain as they glared at the black-haired Shikai.

"Are you alright, hime?" he asked, not looking at her but at the Kaiten.

"Y-yeah, but Ryu is too tired to move."

Sasuke looked down at the Solaris as it gave a weak "Ryu…" at him. He smiled a bit at his partner. "It's okay Ryu, just get some rest for now," he glared at the Kaiten. "I'll take care of these things."

His Chi-Ten noted how his eyes changed from black to red, and in it were black commas swirling around the pupil as he narrowed his eyes at them. _"Their main element is wind, so fire is out of the option. Therefore…"_ he tried to figure out what element would be best to defeat these demons, so he tried ice, but the Kaiten just attacked with wind waves, dicing the crystallized water. Sasuke attempted for water but it was thrown back at him with a large gust of wind that he had to turn his back to them to protect Sakura and Ryu.

"Tch." He put Sakura down and asked her to stay back for a while as he charged at them, eyes still red. She just watched as he used all of the elements he can control; only it remained futile until he only had fire, lightning and wind left.

"_Of course," _he thought. _"Lightning can't be reflected by their element, and it can't be absorbed as well, so it has to be it." _He held his left wrist with his right hand as a blue ball of electricity started to form on his palm, the sound and brightness of it made Sakura aware that this attack had more than 220 volts in it. She just had a feeling it did, seeing as the two Kaiten had backed away from her Shikai at the process. Sasuke gave a smirk and flew towards them with the speed close to light, and managed to electrocute one of them since the other had received the attack and was killed at the process.

During the other Kaiten's weakened state, he waved his hand down, causing sharp waves of wind to slice it in three pieces; the agonizing scream of the Kaiten ringing through their ears as he finally defeated the two demons.

"You did it!" she cheered, running towards him as he retracted his wings and landed on the ground gently. He gave Sakura a small smile as his eyes became a bit blurry before falling backwards. Sakura took note of this that she rushed to catch him, placing Ryu down for a while as the Solaris gave a tired look at Sasuke, trying to call him. "Sasuke..? Hey, what's the matter?"

"Sorry, hime," he murmured, sitting up with her help. His eyes were half-closed and back to its original color. "I was just… drained…"

"Sasuke…" she let herself fall onto his chest as she shut her eyes tight. "You're such an idiot…"

* * *

She entered the room and gave a small smile when he slowly sat up and looked at her. "How are you feeling?" she asked, kneeling down next to him as he did not remove his gaze from her. "I'm fine, hime, no need to worry." 

"Yeah, but you took in a lot of attacks from them." She looked down. "Your assault is stronger than theirs, yet when they reflected it, you had to take in the strength and power of your own, not to mention," she glanced at the now sleeping Ryu. "Your Solaris is drained, so you can't recharge properly." Her eyes became a bit watery as she wiped them dry before tears would begin to fall. "It's my fault, I should've trained harder."

"Hime, it's not your fault, and don't worry too much about me, I'm perfectly al-"

"Just let me feel this way towards you!" she yelled, causing his eyes to widen a bit at her outburst. "I'm only human Sasuke, and even if I am your Chi-Ten, try to understand how it makes me feel whenever you get hurt because of me! Just let me be sad for you, don't stop me from feeling it!" she leaned her head on his chest and cried, her hands gripping tightly on his shirt as his went to her shoulders, grasping it lightly, silence engulfing them as only her sobs could be heard in the room. There was something odd about what she was feeling, and he could sense it too, since he had the same emotion running inside of him. She was in pain, though not physically but emotionally, and somehow, he shared the same feelings too.

From behind the sliding door, Kakashi eyed them for a while before closing the door and walking back to the room Kasumi offered to him and Kurenai.

"How is he?" his Shikai asked, not opening her eyes as she continued meditating.

"Still drained; his energy level hasn't even charged to half of his power." A sigh escaped Kakashi's lips. "With Ryu down, it may take him two days until he's fully back to normal, at least it's the weekend."

"That's good to hear." Kurenai said, opening her eyes. "Maybe I can transfer some of my chi to him just so that he can be ready when another Kaiten comes."

"Yeah, I should train Sakura too, in case a negative Chi-Ten will suddenly attack." He sighed. "We'll start a little later, as of now," he sat down and leaned against the wall. "Let's just leave the two alone."

"Kakashi-sama,"

He looked up.

"I'm more worried about _him_…"

Kakashi remained silent for a moment.

"If he finds out that Sasuke has been summoned, he'll go after Sakura-san and get rid of her…"

"It's a possibility, but he is not a Chi-Ten in the first place, he just learned the powers of one." He looked down. "Still though, he's a prodigy, there's no telling how dangerous his powers are, not to mention," he shut his eyes. "He's got four people to back him up at the least."

"Four negative Chi-Ten may I add."

"Unfortunately…" he sighed. "Although, it remains a mystery to me on how much he detests Chi-Ten and Guardians, and yet he learned the powers of the masters."

Kurenai's eyes widened. "Is he attempting to become a Chi-Ten and get his-"

"Yes. I assume that that is his reason."

The female Shikai looked down. "So… that is why he learned the powers of a Chi-Ten, to get Sasuke."

* * *

She continued crying, and he doesn't know what to do about it. 

"Hime…"

Sakura looked up with tear-stricken eyes, and he didn't know what that feeling was when he saw her looking like that. There was something inside his chest that choked him, almost forcing him to stop breathing that he absent-mindedly placed a hand on his chest and lowered his head, brows furrowed. "Why does it hurt..?" he asked quietly. "Why does it hurt so much when you're like this..?"

There was a moment of silence between them first before he opened his mouth to speak again, only to be stopped when she suddenly kissed him, causing the Shikai to widen his eyes at what his Chi-Ten was doing.

She pulled away and stared into his eyes, drowning in them, while he remained shocked at her actions.

"Hime..?" she blinked before her own orbs turned into a surprised look. "I-I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- to…" she stood up and ran out of the room, a hand covering her mouth as she stepped outside and fell to her knees on the ground, wondering what possessed her to kiss her demonic angel.

"_What was I thinking..? Damn it! I kissed him! I let my emotions out! Shit!"_

She clenched her fists tightly, her eyes shut as tears dried up on her cheeks, her head aching from the confusion of what she was feeling towards Sasuke.

"_Do I… like Sasuke..?"_

"Shi!"

She looked up and saw Shinku, Kurenai's Solaris, flying around in a hyper manner, trying to cheer her up. She smiled and opened her palms where the Solaris rested and beamed at her. "Thanks Shinku, even if you didn't exactly say any comforting words." She giggled when it flew around her and had its tail tickle her face. "Hm?" she tilted her head when it was trying to tell her something. "…Another date? But Ryu is still down."

"Yes, well, I know that Solaris gather their energy back from the sun but-" she sighed and gave in. "Alright, I'll ask Sasuke."

The Chi-Ten got up with Shinku following her behind as she entered her room where Sasuke was, head lowered and staring off into space. "Sasuke..?" he snapped from his thoughts and looked up as Sakura kneeled down before him. "Are you well enough to… walk?" she asked. He gave a nod, eyes still on her as she smiled. "Alright, tomorrow, we'll go on another date."

He noticed that she didn't seem to think about what she did earlier, so he just dropped the subject of it and nodded again. Who was he to reject his Chi-Ten? He was a Shikai, and rejection is not in the option for his Chi-Ten.

"Well, if that's the case,"

The two looked up to see Kakashi enter the room with Kurenai tailing behind, the male Chi-Ten smiling. "Let's go train so that you can defend or fight for him tomorrow." Sakura nodded and got up, following Kakashi as Shinku flew down in front of the sleeping Ryu and closed its eyes in concentration. Kurenai knelt down in front of Sasuke. "I need you to close your eyes and think of nothing." She instructed. He gave a nod as he did what he was told. Kurenai then closed her eyes and placed two fingers on his forehead. "Shinku, begin." She and Shinku then started transferring their chi to Sasuke and Ryu.

"Alright," he began. "First thing you need to do is to meditate."

"What..?"

Kakashi smiled. "Meditate Sakura. You need to know how to control your chi first before you attack. This way, you won't pour out too much of your energy on just a single skill." He glanced at the falling leaves. "With control over my energy, I can do this without getting tired." She looked at where he had his eyes fixed on, and in a split second, all the falling leaves were split into two.

She gaped at the fallen leaves in awe before glancing back at Kakashi who gave a chuckle. "Now then, begin your meditation." She nodded and sat down, cross legged on the floor, before closing her eyes and keeping her thoughts empty and clear. Kakashi just watched his student proudly, happy to know that she was eager to learn about being a better Chi-Ten. _"You'll need to know how to heal Sasuke someday as well," _he looked up at the sky. _"Especially when _he_arrives to take him by force if necessary..."_

He looked back down in shock when he felt her chi pattern – it was odd…

"Sakura..?"

She didn't open her eyes, nor did she make a move that she was listening.

"Sakura..!"

The female Chi-Ten only continued with what she was doing, unaware of how different kinds of elements began to swirl around her meditating form: Fire, wind, water, lightning, ice, earth, darkness and even light.

"Sakura!"

She snapped when he yelled at her, the elements quickly disappearing as she blinked and looked up at her teacher.

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief and knelt down on one knee in front of her. "How do you feel?" he asked in a serious tone. She blinked again before answering his question. "Fine, why?" she tilted her head at the question. He gave a fake smile at her. "It's nothing. But you did control your energy pretty well." He stood up and turned his back to her, a frown cascading upon his face. _"But it was terrifying…" _he thought. "Anyway, let's work on some attacks then." He said as cheerfully as he could.

"Okay…" she murmured, getting up as she prepared herself for a new assault she can master.

Sakura was a quick learner; that much he knew, but he had to be careful on what moves he could teach her after the display of abnormal chi pattern. There was something wrong, and he was not going to take any risk that would attract the negative Chi-Ten into extracting the girl's powers. _"More importantly, Sasuke will need to keep her away from Kaiten, otherwise, the demons could evolve into a more advanced breed when they suck even a little bit of her energy." _He gave Sakura a stern glance. _"There must be a valid reason as to why they were paired up."_

"Ready when you are sensei!"

"Alright then, I want you to try out the water dragon technique I showed you the last time."

"But you said it was risky!"

"Not for training," he grinned. "Now, go on!"

She sighed and nervously focused her chi on her hands that were formed in a seal. Afterwards, she closed her eyes and chanted am ancient language that she learned in just a few minutes. According to Kakashi, a natural born Chi-Ten can learn the words and meanings in an instant than a person who just wants to become a Chi-Ten or someone who has half a normal human's blood.

"_Here goes!" _she opened her eyes as water gathered from below the ground and circled her body, spirally forming a dragon that had red eyes as it growled at Kakashi.

"Perfect." Kakashi commented, summoning a Lightning dragon. "Let's see how well you did on perfecting your control on your energy ki." And the two dragons attacked each other.

* * *

She flinched a bit before opening her eyes to be greeted by the sunlight. Smiling upon remembering what day it was, she got up, took a bath and got dressed before running around the temple in search of her Shikai. 

"He's outside, meditating." Kasumi answered, not looking up from her kitchen duty. Sakura said her thanks before rushing out of their home, jogging around to locate Sasuke. She spotted Ryu flying about, basking under the sunlight as it stopped when it saw her. "Morning Ryu!" she greeted when the Solaris flew towards her, its mouth giving her forehead a wind kiss when it announced its name. She giggled and dashed around the corner, spotting Sasuke seated on the ground, cross-legged and eyes closed.

"Sa-su-ke!!" she skipped towards him, bending down a bit in front of him. "Come on! Let's go!"

He opened his eyes and looked at her, seeing that she was wearing a shirt with a jacket over it, the sleeves folded up to the elbows and a skirt that reached just an inch above her knees. Again, she completed the look with her black combat style boots. He got up from his sitting position and glanced at Ryu who changed his clothes.

* * *

"Where are we going hime?" he asked when she led the way outside. She grinned. "Just follow me and take in the sights!"

He blinked as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a café to get some breakfast first. "Take a seat over there and just wait okay?" he nodded, Ryu keeping out of sight while the female Chi-Ten walked over to the counter and ordered. She came back holding a tray, putting it down on the table as she smiled at her Shikai. "This is called Iced Mocha, the white thing on top of it is whip cream." She took out something from her small knapsack. "This is a chocolate flavored pocky!" she opened the small box and took one pocky stick out. "This is how I eat it." She dipped the chocolate-covered end on her iced mocha drink and took a bite, relishing the sweet flavor. "You try." She said, offering him one pocky stick.

Sasuke stared at it for a while before mimicking what his master did, hesitatingly taking a bite. Ryu watched in anticipation before he nodded in approval, Sakura grinning from ear to ear. "I knew you'd love it!" she then turned to the plate of cookies. "These are called cookies, try one!"

The Shikai did, and again, another nod of approval. "You don't talk too much…" she murmured.

"Sorry, hime."

She giggled. "That's okay." She picked up her fork and cut off a small piece of the strawberry cheesecake. "Here," she urged him to open his mouth as she fed him, all the while talking about other things he needed to know about her world. He nodded as Ryu kept gathering the data of everything.

* * *

She stretched her arms and took a seat on one of the benches in the park. "Whew. I can't believe you're not yet tired!" she said, eyeing him as he stood with his hands in his pockets. He blinked and raised a brow at her as she giggled. "It's nothing!" she waved it off and stood up. "Come on, it's only 5.30 in the afternoon, we still have about three hours before my mom demands us to go back." He followed her again as she looked around, thinking of where they should head off next. 

While she debated about going to a nearby amusement park or the aquarium center, Sasuke kept his eyes on her, recalling the things that Kakashi had told him about being on a date, on what a guy should do when something like this or that happens. "Ah, let's just go to the amusement park! It's nearer, and then we'll go to the aquarium next week!"

Another thing he remembered was that the guy was the one who has to pay, but right now, he doesn't have money for this world, and she ended up paying for everything. Although it didn't look as if they were affected by it, Kakashi had said that other people will think otherwise.

"Hime…" he called out as they reached the entrance to the park. "How can you get… money?"

She blinked and tilted her head. "Why? What do you need it for?"

"Kakashi said that a guy should be the one spending on dates, not the girl."

She laughed, and he had no idea why he felt weird inside when she did, just by looking at her. Something wasn't right.

"You need to work to earn money Sasuke, but we're still underage for that, so don't worry about spending and just leave that to me. I've got too many savings from my allowance since I don't spend them all."

"But-"

"Consider it as an order then." And he couldn't argue with that as she led him to some of the rides.

Sasuke looked at the name of the ride and heard people screaming that he thought there was a Kaiten. Sakura stifled a giggle and grabbed his hand to catch his attention. "Don't worry, it's not always a Kaiten that causes people to scream." She looked up at the ride. "This is called a roller coaster, the reason why people yell is because of the speed it travels, not to mention the loops."

He nodded, understanding almost instantly.

"Come on, let's get on."

They sat down as the man in charge of the ride made sure they were buckled down for safety before moving on to the next passengers behind them. Sakura waited in anticipation, excitement evident in her expression. She loved these kinds of rides, unlike her friend, Hinata, who preferred the tamer ones. Funny how opposite they were and yet they got along so much. Speaking of Hinata, she swore she spotted the shy girl earlier near the Merry-go-round.

She was cut off from her train of thoughts when the long cart began to move, and she shrugged and enjoyed the ride.

"Whoo! Yeah!" she yelled, raising her hands up in the air as Sasuke frowned when he felt that something was wrong. When they were about to go through the first loop, Ryu called his attention and he turned to see a Kaiten heading towards them. With a curse, he tried to get out of his seat but couldn't when the ride moved faster. "Tch." He tried to unbuckle the seatbelt again, doing it over and over until he was successful. Sakura was puzzled when he did so and was about to ask him when she spotted the Kaiten jumped towards their direction.

"Ryu, time element!" Sasuke said as Ryu nodded and released a huge amount of energy ki, causing everything and everyone who weren't Shikai, Chi-Ten, Solaris or Kaiten to stop. "Keep it busy!" he told Ryu as he released the seatbelt of Sakura before the time element wears off. As soon as he got her out, everything slowly returned to normal, just in time for the Shikai to change into battle clothes and extract his wings, carrying his Chi-Ten in his arms as the people in the roller coaster continued enjoying the ride.

"Damn, why does a Kaiten always have to appear on our dates?!" Sakura yelled in a frustrated voice as Ryu told Sasuke of what element the Kaiten had.

"Ice huh? This should be easy." Sasuke said to himself as he got ready to release a fire attack at the Kaiten but was knocked towards the railings of the roller coaster, causing his grip to tighten around Sakura to prevent her from getting hurt. He groaned in pain when his ribs took the hit, glaring at the other Kaiten that just appeared out of nowhere. "Tch. Wind element," he turned to the other one. "Wind and ice Kaiten…" he furrowed his brows. "Lightning will be useless against ice while fire will be an advantage to wind. Shit."

"What's wrong?" she asked from beside him. "I need to find a way to get rid of one of them first if I can't tackle both at the same time." He answered, eyes shifting to red. "Alright, I'll keep the other one busy." She announced, getting up and getting ready to fight. "You can't hime, it's too dangerous right now." She was about to protest when he pointed at where they were standing. She screamed upon seeing how high up they were. "Hell no! We're gonna die!"

"Hime, calm down." He pulled her into his arms and flew off when the Kaiten had charged.

"How can I be calm when we're in deep shit..?!"

Sasuke evaded another attack as he tried to think of a way to defeat the two Kaiten.

"Damn it! I wanna fight but I can't!"

"Hime, please, I'm trying to concentra-" he didn't get to finish his sentence when a gust of wind forced them apart, causing Sasuke to let go of Sakura who fell but managed to grab onto the railing of the coaster. "Fucking Kaiten!" she cursed, pulling herself up as she swung her legs and got on the railing, catching her breath as she glanced at where Sasuke was, seeing him try to get to her but the Kaiten of Ice kept blocking his way. She stood up and attempted to help him out when the Wind Kaiten decided to play with her by calling out a breeze to blow at her, causing her skirt to lift up and reveal her underwear. She blushed and glared at the snickering Kaiten. "You damn asshole!" she cursed, readying herself to attack when she felt the railing underneath her feet vibrating.

With widened eyes, she turned to her left to see the roller coaster coming at a fast speed.

"Oh shit!!" she cursed and began running towards the opposite direction, at times, almost falling off but still keeping her balance thanks to her excessive training in gymnastics. Her speed was just right and she had track and field to thank for that. However, it was not enough to keep the roller coaster from closing in on her. What made it worse was she reached the loop part, and it forced her to stop and turn, seeing the headlights of the coaster fast approaching.

"Fuck." She shut her eyes tight, bracing for what was to come until she felt herself being carried off to who knows where. Opening her eyes she saw Sasuke carrying her and flying away from the Wind Kaiten. "S-Sasuke..?!"

"Hime, hold on." He said and when she did, he turned around while still in motion and summoned a ball of lightning, shooting it towards the Kaiten that came after them, hitting it square on the head, causing it to explode and decompose slowly. "What about the other one?" she asked. "Dead." He answered bluntly, landing towards a clearing where no one could see them. He retracted his wings and sat down, giving a tired sigh as Ryu came flying towards them. "Great, I caused another burden to you again…" she muttered.

He looked up and saw her head lowered - her eyes downcast. He frowned at this; he felt that pain inside of him again.

Sasuke got up and took her hand, intertwining it with his fingers as she looked up, surprised at the gesture. He smiled. "We can still have one more ride."

As cliché as it may seem, she picked the Ferris wheel and explained to him what the ride does. Though it wasn't as thrilling as the roller coaster, it was a good choice for a bit of relaxation as they sat adjacent to each other, head turned to the clear glass window where they could get a glimpse of the whole place. "This is what I like about Ferris wheels." She said in a soft voice, a content smile on her lips. "The view you get calms down your nerves, and it makes you feel like you're on top of the world."

He eyed her for a while, deciding on something: He hated it when she was sad or depressed, and he found that he loved it better when she had that smile on her face.

"_Why though..?" _he asked himself, eyes fixed on her figure. _"Is it because… you're..." _he trailed off, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Sasuke-kun..?" she tilted her head when he continued staring at her. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

He didn't answer, but just leaned forward a bit, and she found herself not backing away or doing anything at all. Instead, she just remained still, eyes slowly closing when his were shut.

_**To be continued…** _

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 4: Instincts_

He didn't know what it was that bothered him so much when he watched his Chi-Ten being beaten up by these three men they haven't met in their entire lives. What made it worse was that he couldn't move due to the strings that kept him tied. These four negative Chi-Ten were after him, and because he refuses to leave Sakura, they ended up fighting her, and she did not hesitate to fight back, just so that she wouldn't lose him.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for slow updates. I've been pretty busy with things._


	4. Instincts

_A/N: For those who guessed that "him"/"he" is Orochimaru, well, you're about to find out if you're correct._

* * *

**Ai no Tsubasa**

"And so, they fought until they died, protecting their village, their home," Kakashi finished reading the last sentence of the paragraph of the story. "Now then, for your assignment, I want you all to do a research on this era and come up with a creative way of reporting when you come back from your semester break. Is that clear?"

He received groans and forced 'yes' from his class, and he smiled brightly at this. "Good. Now get out of here you little brats." He said in a sing-song voice.

Sakura sighed at this, slightly glaring at Kakashi for the homework he assigned to them. _"How the heck can I prepare for that when you're just going to train me for the whole break?!" _she gave another frustrated sigh and picked up her bag, deciding to stop by the library first before heading back home.

"Hime..?"

She stopped and looked behind her where Sasuke stood, hands in his pockets and a curious look directed at her. She smiled. "Come on." And he nodded, following her towards the school's library. They were unaware though, of how a pair of eyes had followed their movements.

"Found you, Shikai." The owner of those eyes said, smirking wickedly as he kept his gaze on Sasuke.

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Instincts**_

A yawn escaped her lips as she turned to the next page, her eyes having a boring look in them as she continued reading. Sasuke just kept staring at her, curious as to why she wasn't her happy or cheerful self - even when Ryu began to tickle her with its tail. The Solaris only earned a small smile, but that was it.

"Sasuke, stop staring at me…" She muttered.

He didn't reply but did as he was told by looking down; staring at the empty surface of the table they sat on.

Sakura looked up slightly to get a glimpse of what his expression was: blank.

She frowned at this.

"Is something bothering you?" she asked.

"It's nothing, hime." He answered, not looking at her.

"…When I said stop staring at me, it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't look at me anymore."

It caused her to giggle when he blinked and raised his head to meet her eye to eye. When he heard her laughing, he couldn't help but give his own small smile, his eyes having a somewhat serene look as she covered her lips with her right hand, her shoulders were shaking as she continued to chuckle softly. The sight was pleasing to him; it reminded him of what lay beyond the gates of heaven, where he was locked up along with the other uncalled Shikai. But now that she had unconsciously called out to him, summoning him into this world, his chains broke, ending his imprisonment above.

"I'm glad…" he suddenly said as she stopped laughing and tilted her head at him, a smile on her lips. "Hm? What?" she asked. Again, he smiled at her, his eyes half-closed while he still held his gaze on her. "I'm glad that you're smiling." He finished.

A blush adorned her cheeks when he looked at her like that. It was a rare sight for her, and she felt embarrassed at his stare. It wasn't like an obsessed look from her admirers, nor was it something that was disturbing, but instead, it made her relax, at the same time, feel conscious of her appearance. The fact that she was feeling weird didn't help – she already acknowledged that she was attracted to her Shikai, but the feeling only grew deeper and complicated everytime she sees him with those rare smiles that made him more human than a demonic angel. Sometimes, she even forgets that he was a Shikai, _her_Shikai for that matter.

"Is that why you've been giving me those worried looks..?" she asked softly, looking down a bit, feeling shy all of a sudden. _"I feel weird…" _she thought. _"I think I am starting to really fall for him…" _she raised her head a bit when he opened his mouth to answer her question. "Aa, I'm not used to your quiet behavior, Sakura-hime, it's… unusual for me."

"I-I see…" she whispered. "Sorry for making you feel more concerned." She said with a blush and a brighter smile.

He felt something tug at his heart that he absent-mindedly placed a hand over it, glancing down as he wondered what that was just now.

"Hime," he called out as she listened. "Why is it that I feel this way?" he asked, looking back at her as she blinked. "I… don't know how to describe it or what to call it, but it's… weird." He said. "I've never felt this kind of expression; it's something new to me."

Sakura was a bit shocked as she thought about the possibilities, recalling how Kakashi once said that when a Chi-Ten falls for his or her Shikai, the Shikai will also feel the same, and would last for eternity, whether or not the master no longer feels the same. It was tragic for the demonic angels, but it was their fate, no matter how cruel it seemed.

"Sasuke," she began. "Could… you be…" she trailed off, blushing as she gulped and tried to continue. "…falling for…"

She didn't get a chance to finish since she noted how her Shikai suddenly turned serious as he abruptly looked outside the window behind her, a glare on his eyes as Ryu came out from its hiding place (Sasuke's bag) and had narrowed orbs staring at the same spot. "Um… Sasuke? What's wrong?" the next thing she heard was the glass behind her breaking, followed by Sasuke standing up as he charged forward towards her, pulling the girl into his arms as he twisted his body to prevent the shards from hurting his Chi-Ten.

Sakura opened her eyes, recovering from the incident as she snapped her head to Sasuke, seeing how he had cuts all over his body, blood seeping out while he glared outside the broken window, eyes already red. He had already changed into battle gear, and his wings began to extract from his wounded back, where most of the glass cut through. "You're bleeding!" she yelled. "I'm fine hime," he said, glancing at her before turning back to the person responsible for the assault. "Right now, we have bigger concerns." He added.

The pink-haired Chi-Ten blinked and looked outside, eyes widening upon seeing a man. He had a smirk on his face, his eyes looking impressed after what the Shikai showed. "No doubt about it," he said. "You're the Shikai we're looking for."

"…Huh?" Sakura mouthed. "What do you mean he's the Shikai you're looking for?!"

She noted how the man turned his attention to her for a slight fraction of a second before looking back at Sasuke, his smirk disappearing as he looked into the Shikai's red eyes. "The sharingan," he began. "A special technique given to a selected Shikai." He closed his eyes. "A technique given to only one Shikai per decade..."

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, brows furrowing. "You're a negative Chi-Ten, I'm sure, but who are you?"

"Hm, I guess introductions are to be made first for a proper duel." He stood up straight and raised his right arm, his palm facing the sky while he stood still on the thick branch of a dead tree. "I am Hoshigake Kisame of the Akatsuki." He said, a huge sword appearing on his right palm after the element of water gathered and formed into the shape of the negative Chi-Ten's weapon of choice. "And this is my Samehada." He said, glancing at the sword. "If you'll excuse me, Sasuke," he smirked when the Shikai's eyes slightly widened before narrowing again. "I need to get rid of your Chi-Ten so that we can finish our business."

"Over my dead body!" he snarled, blocking his Chi-Ten with his arm as his wings spread out behind him. For a sword that big, he needed a katana so strong yet light enough to be wielded in a fast pace; Sakura only noted now how wind began to gather from Sasuke's right shoulder to his extended right arm, all the way towards his open palm as the zephyr formed a long, slender sword. Sasuke's fingers closed on the handle as he got into a defensive position, his red eyes still glaring at Kisame.

"Hm," Kisame sighed at this. "I don't really want to fight you, but if to get you out of the way is the only option I have to pick to get rid of her," he glanced at Sakura before preparing himself into an offensive stance. "Then so be it." And he leaped over towards them, his samehada being blocked by Sasuke's weapon. "What the-?!" he exclaimed, seeing how the thin sword managed to withhold the force of his weapon.

Sasuke smirked. "My kusanagi may look weak against your samehada, but it's powered by wind, which is not exactly good for your water type sword."

"Interesting…" a new voice said.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he abruptly turned his head towards where the sound came from. He hadn't sensed this man, and what made it worse was his Chi-Ten was held by the new arrival. "No wonder _he's_ looking for you." He added, eyeing Sasuke with calm eyes. "…Took you long enough, Sasori." Kisame said.

The man named Sasori closed his eyes as he tugged on the strings that bound Sakura, causing the thin ropes to constrict the girl who held in her scream, even if it was really painful.

"Sasuke was it?" Sasori confirmed. "As a Shikai, you must be very worried about your Chi-Ten's current condition." He looked at Sakura and tugged onto the strings tighter, causing Sakura to emit a small cry of pain. "If you want her to live, if you want us to let her go," he looked at him. "Then you should know what to do, know what we want."

The male Shikai gritted his teeth before letting his katana turn back to wind as he deactivated his sharingan, his hands lowering to the side as he lowered his head. Sakura took note of this that she clenched her fists and shut her eyes. "Don't, Sasuke! Don't give in to them!" she yelled, causing the three men to turn to her as she gathered her energy ki and had the elements help her out by cutting through the ropes, which had Sasori be mildly surprised by what she did. "I won't let you have him!" she said, glaring at Sasori as she, without warning, summoned out the water dragon that Kakashi had recently told her to master, commanding it to attack Sasori who quickly jumped off from the opposite tree branch that Kisame stood on earlier.

"Tsk, you two can't really handle the situation on your own, yeah?"

All four turned to another new arrival who had long blonde hair, a part of it tied on top of his head while his bangs covered his left eye.

Sasori gave a sigh at this. "You're one to talk, especially after you still needed our help just to kill one weak Chi-Ten two days ago."

"Sasori-danna, so mean!" he exclaimed, glancing at Sasuke who now stood next to Sakura. "So, he's our guy, yeah?"

"Obviously," Kisame muttered. "Why else would I attack, Deidara?"

Deidara shrugged. "You did that last week to one Chi-Ten and his Shikai."

Sakura's eyes widened as she let their conversation register in her head. "Wait, so you're the ones responsible for the current deaths of every Chi-Ten and Shikai!" she yelled. "How can you be so heartless in killing them?!"

"Aw, we got her mad sempai!"

Sasuke was shocked. _"How can I not sense their arrival?" _he thought, looking behind him where another man stood a few feet away, wearing an orange mask with a hole on the right eye. "We're sorry if we had to kill them, we didn't exactly mean it." He explained to Sakura, who stood her ground and glared at him. _"We're outnumbered, even with Sasuke," _she glanced at him. _"It's not possible for us to win, these guys…" _a sweat dripped down her face. _"They have an abnormal energy ki of a negative Chi-Ten, and it's too dangerous to fight them all at once." _

"Anyway," Sasori coughed. "Tobi, just stay out of this." he ordered, summoning more strings as he attacked without warning, causing Sasuke to carry Sakura and fly away from the branch, evading the ropes. "Tch. This is not good." He muttered, dodging to the left when Kisame leapt into the air and tried to slice his right wing off._"What the heck!" _the Shikai thought, almost unable to evade the assault Kisame gave. _"Even if I lose one of my wings, I'll just have Ryu get it back to normal, but it would be a disadvantage to do so while fighting." _He narrowed his eyes and activated the sharingan. _"Hime will have to fight if we ever want to get out of here alive."_

As if reading his thoughts, Sakura stretched her right arm forward, palm facing Sasori before she shot a jet of water towards the red-haired man. Of course, he evaded, but he nearly got hit when the water moved towards him, looking like a living water whip that didn't stop until it hit a few strands of his red hair, causing the said locks to fall on the ground.

"Hm, not bad." He commented, placing a hand on his head where he loss some hair. "I guess it's to be expected from someone who summoned a Shikai of Sasuke's level." He narrowed his eyes. "It's time to get serious then."

"Shit." Sasuke cursed when he realized a bit too late how Deidara was behind them, riding an owl that he sculptured from the earth and caused it to live with his energy ki. "Got you, yeah!" he exclaimed, knocking him down as he held onto Sakura tighter and had his wings protect them when they crashed on the ground.

Before they could even get back up, Sasori's strings - that were tied around the branch - came shooting down towards Sasuke, pulling him against the tree's trunk and binding him there.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled, getting up on her feet as she rushed towards him, jumping back when Kisame had brought down his samehada on where she once stood, preventing her from going nearer her Shikai. "That's about as far as you can go." He said with a smirk. "In order to get Sasuke, we'll need to eliminate you or he chooses to go with us himself on your command." He let his sword rest over his shoulders, his right hand on the handle. "What'll it be then, Chi-Ten?"

She scanned the area, watching with calculated eyes as they each stood on their designated posts, surrounding her. Even the guy named Tobi joined in, but not yet showing his true skills.

"I have no choice…" she said, her eyes forming a glare as she got into a fighting stance. "I'll have to fight all of you to get you off of our backs."

"Hmph, you've got spunk and courage, but it's foolish of you to think that you'll ever beat us." Kisame spat, charging at her with a speed Sakura never knew he possessed. _"I'll have to rely on my reflexes and the elements." _She ducked, letting the samehada slice air, inwardly thankful that it didn't give her a haircut. _"Got you." _She thought with a smirk as she stomped on the ground, causing the earth which Kisame stood on to rise and throw the man off balance, making him land a few feet away from her.

She noticed how Sasuke struggled against the ropes that only tightened with each move he made. _"Guess I'll need to deal with Sasori first." _She jumped into the air, aided by the wind which she commanded to slice the thin wires that Sasori held onto.

"Oh, no you don't, yeah!" Deidara commanded the ground to block the attack, shielding Sasori at the same time.

"Ch. Damn." She cursed, landing back on the ground. _"Kisame has water, Deidara has earth, Tobi has yet to reveal his powers while Sasori seems to control wind… or perhaps a combination of another element." _Her eyes narrowed. _"Where the heck is Ryu anyway?!" _she thought, glancing around.

"Aww, isn't this little guy cute?"

They all turned to Tobi who had Ryu squished in his arms, the Solaris having swirly eyes due from the lack of oxygen that Tobi did not provide. "Tobi, you idiot, you're killing it!" Deidara yelled. Tobi made an "eek" sound and let the Solaris go. "I'm so sorry! Forgive me little guy!" he said, bowing repeatedly before Ryu. The blue Solaris shook its body a few times before zooming towards Sasuke, attempting to set the Shikai free when a blob of some sort blocked its path. "Ryu!" the Solaris said, its eyes glaring at the thing before it.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Sakura asked.

"A Lunaris…"

Her body froze. _"Great, another guy…" _she thought, looking over her right shoulder as she glared at another man who had long raven hair tied into a low ponytail. _"He… looks like Sasuke…"_

"Lunaris…" she repeated in a soft voice.

"Yes," the man said. "The opposite of a Solaris," he turned to Ryu who can't move as it steadied its glare at the Lunaris. "While the Solaris gives energy to Shikai and recharges from the sun, a Lunaris sucks out the energy of a Shikai and recharges from the moon."

"Hmph, you're late, Itachi." Kisame said, brushing off dirt from his shoulders.

"Shut your mouth," Itachi said, turning to Sasuke who glared. "I finally found you, Sasuke." He said, walking towards the Shikai who suddenly threw a ball of fire at Itachi.

"I may not be able to move but I can still control elements you idiots." He said, eyes turning red as he watched Itachi get back up after putting the fire out. He wasn't exactly expecting that attack, but still, he did not bother to counter. "You've grown…" he said, his eyes having a solemn look as he closed them, his brows knitting. "It's been fifteen years…" he said to himself before opening his eyes once more. "…and I've finally found you."

He jumped back when Sakura caused a gust of wind to attack Itachi, only it ended up hitting Kisame who failed to react fast. Wasting no second, she sprinted towards Sasuke and had razor wind edges to cut through the strings, but again, Deidara countered by letting the soil rise to block it. "Finish her." Itachi commanded as Deidara had a few rocks rise from he ground and head straight for Sakura, who made a few back flips to avoid the flying projectiles.

"Not fast enough," Sasori said, appearing behind her as she got kicked, sending her flying at least ten feet from where she last stood.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, unable to do much help when Sasori added more restraints on him to prevent the Shikai from interrupting. "Tsk, you dare call your Chi-Ten by her first name?" Kisame said, taking long strides towards Sakura as he raised his sword. "Well, say her name once more before I send her to the afterlife."

"Heh, go ahead." Sakura said with a smirk, looking up haughtily at Kisame despite being covered in dirt. "If you kill a Chi-Ten without him or her telling the Shikai to stay behind, what do you think will happen?" her mind laughed at the facial expression Kisame had upon realization. "That's right, kill me, and he goes with me, because there is no way I'll be ordering him to remain here to follow negative scum like all of you."

"Smart girl." Tobi voiced out, earning his comrades to glare at him as he sweat dropped and raised both hands up in defense.

"We'll just have to convince your Shikai then. After all," Itachi approached Sasuke and reached out to remove his left earring, despite how hard the Shikai tried to shake his head to prevent him from unclipping it. "Once this is removed, he can have the free will to choose between staying with you, or coming with us."

Sakura glared. "How, pray tell, will you convince him?"

"By beating you up in front of him." Itachi answered, nodding his head as Kisame smirked and had his samehada hit her on the side of her body, causing some of her skin to open and let blood flow out as she gritted her teeth, determined not to cry out in pain. "Sakura!" her Shikai yelled, clenching his fists as he tried to come up with an attack that could help her out, but each time he would be able to, Sasori would just tighten his bind on the Shikai, causing him to lose concentration.

"Have you decided yet?" Itachi asked, glancing at Sasuke as he glared at him.

"Don't, Sasuke!" Sakura yelled. "Whether you have the choice to say yes or no, I am still your Chi-Ten and I say don't!" she got a kick at the back from Deidara. "Shut up, come on Tobi, be of some help, yeah!"

"But Sasori-sempai-"

"Just join in." the red-head said.

Tobi nodded and had a combination of earth and fire head straight towards Sakura, who rolled over to avoid getting hit.

She wasn't able to dodge or block the oncoming assault from Kisame, which caused her to cry out in pain.

"Sakura!"

"We can stop this you know, all you need to do is come with us." Sasori said, not looking at him.

"…No." He replied, lowering his head. _"If Sakura doesn't want me to join them, then I won't."_

"Hm, fine then," Sasori held the back of his head through his hair and pulled him up, making him watch his Chi-Ten get beaten up continuously. "Then watch how your master suffers, and how you failed to protect her."

"…_It hurts…" _he thought as he eyed Sakura being punched and kicked. _"…it hurts to see her like this…" _his eyes shut tight while his fists clenched, his nails beginning to dig into the leather material of his gloves, making their way through his skin.

He didn't know what it was that bothered him so much when he watched his Chi-Ten being beaten up by these three men they haven't met in their entire lives. What made it worse was that he couldn't move due to the strings that kept him tied. These four negative Chi-Ten were after him, and because he refuses to leave Sakura, they ended up fighting her, and she did not hesitate to fight back, just so that she wouldn't lose him.

* * *

"Haven't had enough yet, Sasuke?"

Four negative Chi-Ten plus one more – and he recognized the pattern of this guy's ki. He wasn't like them at all. Actually, one of the three guys that were currently against Sakura was not a Chi-Ten. "Itachi, was it…" he murmured, causing the person addressed to look at him. "Who taught you the powers of a Chi-Ten? More importantly," he opened his sharingan eyes and had them rest on Tobi. "Who's the Chi-Ten of that guy?"

Sasori froze as he eyed Sasuke, then Itachi, waiting for the man to reply.

Itachi merely smirked, impressed at how Sasuke figured them out. "That would have to be something you'll need to find out for yourself."

The Shikai's eyes flickered, closing them as he tried to concentrate his energy ki, distributing them equally to all of his body parts. Sasori turned to Sasuke, tightening the strings to prevent him from doing anything, but the Shikai ignored the pain and continued releasing a surge of chakra. His ears picked up how much Sakura was in pain, and what she felt, he also felt, it really hurt, and he couldn't take it anymore.

"_No…"_he thought, brows knitting some more as he began to spark a bit, blue electricity beginning to surround his body like a deadly aura. _"I won't let you hurt her anymore!" _he opened his eyes, his sharingan activated as Sasori felt himself thrown towards another tree, his back hitting the sturdy trunk as he fought to stay awake, his vision blurry, seeing how Sasuke managed to cut through the strings, and with the speed he possessed, charged towards Kisame, punching through his left chest, causing a critical injury.

"Augh!" Kisame groaned in pain, spitting out blood as some of the red substance that came from his injury splattered on Sasuke. The Shikai threw Kisame aside and made a roundhouse kick to Deidara, who rushed to him, causing Sasuke's foot to connect with Deidara's jaw, knocking some teeth out from the blonde's mouth. He then turned to Tobi who instantly sprang to his feet and engaged himself with a hand-to-hand combat against Sasuke. "How can a negative Chi-Ten summon a Shikai?" he questioned his enemy, dodging all of the attacks thrown at him.

Tobi stopped and jumped away from Sasuke, staring at the raven-haired Shikai who turned to Sakura upon hearing her grunt, coughing out blood at the process. "Hime!" he rushed to her, helping her up as he glared at their enemies. "I won't forgive you…" he hissed, holding Sakura closer to him. He felt her clutch onto his shirt as he let one of his wings cover her, protecting her from them.

"Hime, please forgive me for not being able to protect you…" he whispered, raising one free hand towards the collar around his neck. He glanced towards Ryu - the blue Solaris was still engaged in a staring showdown against the Lunaris. If Ryu blinks, he loses, because Lunaris were also capable of possessing the speed of light, and when Ryu does blink, it will cause the counterpart of the Solaris to fly over to him and suck out his energy.

"_Solaris are like mini guardians," _he thought, eyes narrowed as his fingers began to undo the clasp of the collar around his neck. _"That's why Ryu can't lose against the Lunaris, otherwise, it'll drain my energy, and I surely won't be able to protect Sakura properly."_He paused for a moment, glancing at his Chi-Ten who was fighting to stay awake. _"Since when did I start calling you by your first name, hime..?" _he thought, eyes softening for a while as he felt his heartbeat race, there was definitely something odd in him whenever it concerned her, and he had a gut feeling that it was what Kakashi had said to him upon lecturing him about dating.

"Hime," he whispered as she looked at him weakly. He gave a small smile, his sharingan deactivated. "As soon as this is over, let's go out, okay?"

Despite her weakened state, she managed a warm smile, and it made his heart leap. "I'd like that… very much…" she said in a soft voice, her eyes closing as she let unconscious take over, unable to feel her Shikai's lips press against her forehead in a feathery kiss. "Hang in there," he said. "Sakura…"

He closed his eyes and then turned to Itachi and company with sharingan orbs glaring menacingly at them, with one tug, his collar was off, and the blue aura that once surrounded him earlier turned darker and darker. Fiery marks soon began to spread across his body as his energy ki went amuck, surrounding him and his Chi-Ten in a swirl. He slowly stood up, his Chi-Ten in his arms as he glared. "You'll pay for this…" he hissed, and in a blink of an eye, he disappeared and was now behind Tobi, giving the suspected-to-be-Shikai a hard series of kicks.

"Tobi!" Deidara yelled, sending some rocks towards Sasuke, followed by some hardened clay that exploded in mid air, causing smoke to erupt, but that didn't stop Sasuke. Gifted with the sharingan, he managed to see the ki patterns in Deidara's body that he flew upwards, causing the blonde Chi-Ten to miss.

Sasuke then released a dragon fire, sending it towards Deidara, letting him writhe in pain from the hot flames. "Shit!" he yelled.

Kisame struggled to his feet and had a jet of water spray towards Deidara, putting out the flames. "Damn, if… only I… wasn't… weakened…" he stuttered, looking up at Sasuke, giving him an image of a death angel that was about to take his life, seeing as how his red eyes glared at him.

"_So… this is what they call the demonic angel of death, huh?" _he chuckled bitterly. _"Demonic angel of death, the Shikai that has unleashed his powers…" _he glanced at the collar on the ground that lay motionless a few meters away from him. _"That collar was his restraint, and the earring, that Itachi took off earlier, was responsible for binding him to his Chi-Ten's orders, enabling him to have the free will to choose to remove his collar…"_he glanced at Itachi. _"You made a wrong move there my friend."_

He felt Sasuke charging at him with a killing blow, so he prepared himself, but Itachi ran to him and matched Sasuke's glare, his onyx orbs looking into red eyes as he stood his ground and did a series of hand seals. "I won't let you." He said, before releasing a strong whirlwind.

* * *

Everyone turned to him when he suddenly stood up and knocked over the cup of coffee, causing the liquid to spill and the glass to break. His eyes were wide, and he was shaking a bit as he stared at the floor.

"…Kakashi-sama?" Kurenai said in a soft voice so that no one could hear her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He turned his head to the window, seeing two birds flying as some leaves flew with the direction of the wind. Without warning, he sprinted outside the faculty room, Kurenai running after him.

"_No, please no…" _he chanted in his head, running outside the school building and headed towards the backyard of the school, the only spot in the vicinity that's always deserted. "…Shit." He cursed upon arriving, witnessing how Sasuke managed to break through the whirlwind and had his hand plunge through Itachi's stomach, the blue ball of electricity dying.

"Sasuke..! Stop it!" he yelled, running towards the Shikai who suddenly turned to him with a glare.

"D-don't Kakashi, h-he's out of control!" Sasori managed to yell.

The silver-haired Chi-Ten skidded to a stop; eyes widened when Sasuke smirked at him and suddenly ran towards the new arrival. "Crap." Kakashi said, performing some complicated hand seals. "Slow!" he called out, causing Sasuke to frown when he felt his speed decrease. "No you don't." he said in a low and cold voice, doing a one-hand seal. "Break." He said, his speed returning to normal.

"Kakashi-sama..!" Kurenai yelled, changing to Shikai form and blocking the attack with her kodachi. Her crimson eyes showed how she was having a hard time stopping Sasuke, especially since she felt herself moving backwards. "Sasuke, get a hold of yourself!" she yelled, losing her composure. An out-of-control Shikai was the last thing anyone wants to deal with.

"S-Sasori…" Itachi coughed. "W-wake her up…" he said, looking at Sakura who lay unconscious under a tree. The red-haired wasted no time to head towards the pink-haired Chi-Ten.

"_Hime..."_Sasuke thought, sensing someone approach Sakura. He gave Kurenai a kick on the stomach, using that as his leverage while he flew towards Sasori. "Get away from her." He said, knocking Sasori away.

"H-hold still, yeah…" Deidara ordered, healing Itachi's wounds while Kisame let Tobi fix him up.

Sasuke eyed the four, his eyes narrowing to slits. "No way I'm going to let you finish." His arms began to release another electric charge as he gathered up enough energy that would be enough to kill the four in one attack. "This time, I'm sending you to hell."

"Sasuke! Don't!" Kakashi yelled, doing everything he can to slow the Shikai down, whether it was to cause the earth to rise and block Sasuke's paths, or to keep using the 'slow' technique on him. "It's no use Kakashi-sama," Kurenai said, getting up. "His sharingan can predict your attacks, and with him in that state, any other technique you throw at him would be futile." And she flew towards the four, shielding them from Sasuke's view. "Sasuke, you must stop! You can't kill them!"

"Get out of my way!" he yelled back. "I'll kill anyone who hurts Sakura!" he was nearing Kurenai at that.

"Ryu!" the Solaris cried out, managing to win against the Lunaris when Kurenai's Solaris, Shinku, had knocked it away.

"Sasuke, don't do it!"

His eyes widened and shifted back to onyx as he quickly stopped, just in time since he had hit Kurenai, yet it didn't kill Kakashi's Shikai because the electricity that once surrounded Sasuke had died down.

The rest watched, staring at Sasuke who stood still, his wings folding behind his back. His marks were still present, but he was no longer surrounded by the overwhelming chi; they heard running footsteps that stopped when it reached in front of the male Shikai. "…hime…" he said, looking down at her, eyes still shocked from what happened as he came to his senses. Sakura panted for a while before giving a tired smile, raising her arms as they circled around Sasuke's neck, pulling the surprised Shikai into her arms as they fell to their knees on the ground.

His eyes half-closed when he felt himself begin to calm down, his chakra flow, aka chi, returning to normal , his marks slowly going back to its origin – turning back to the three commas that formed a circle, the said cursed seal that was found behind every Shikai's left part of the neck. "It's alright…" Sakura whispered, pulling away slightly. "It's alright…" she repeated, clasping the collar around his neck. "Everything's fine…" she pulled his head to her chest, her left hand keeping him there while her right stroked his raven hair repeatedly.

Sasuke closed his eyes, finding the position he was in very relaxing.

"Thank goodness…" Kisame sighed in relief, glancing at Sasori who gave a small smile, nodding his response to Kisame's mouthed thanks. It was hard to wake the girl up, he was lucky that when Sasuke had pushed him away, his strings managed to bind Sakura's right wrist, and he had to tug hard at it to get her to wake up. Although, what made her really stand was when he said that he'd kill anyone who hurts her. _"That Chi-Ten…" _he thought, amused. _"I can't believe that after what we did to her, she still refuses to have her Shikai kill us."_

He approached his comrades and helped Deidara in healing Itachi.

"I want an explanation." Sakura began, looking over Itachi's group when she was sure that Sasuke was no longer tensed. "I don't believe that you're after Sasuke because he's a high-level Shikai, there's more to it, I can feel it…" she looked down at her demonic angel, hugging him tighter as she shut her eyes, burying her face in his spiky hair. "Please tell me, I'll do anything to get you to not take him away."

Kakashi and Kurenai approached Sakura, the female Shikai giving a reassuring smile as Ryu and Shinku flew towards them. The pink-haired Chi-Ten looked up when Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're correct Sakura, they are not plainly negative Chi-Ten." He said, looking at them. "They are just part Guardian and part Chi-Ten, except for Tobi and Itachi."

"Huh..?" Sakura asked.

"You see," Itachi began. "Tobi is half-Shikai, yet he also has a Guardian's blood, which explains why he can heal without the Shikai feathers. When you've got parents that are Guardian and Shikai, you don't have a Chi-Ten, you won't have wings and you won't need a Solaris but a Lunaris."

"Why a Lunaris?"

Deidara grinned. "It's to handle a rampaging Shikai, like Sasuke over there, yeah. But our Lunaris was engaged in a battle against Ryu, so, yeah."

"And Itachi-san is a what?" Sakura asked, still unsure if they were to be trusted.

Everyone fell silent for a moment before the person in question opened his mouth to speak.

"I am a first born in our family, my father is a Chi-Ten, and he married his Shikai, my mother. Granted that, I am just a normal person given an option to learn to be a Chi-Ten or live a normal life. Of course, I wanted the latter, especially after my little brother was born, yet…" he closed his eyes. "…My mother took him up there."

Sakura's eyes widened as she had a gut feeling of where this was going. "Don't tell me that you're-"

"Sasuke's brother? Yes. I am."

_**To be continued…** _

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 5: Family_

He saw how his brother was so depressed at something he didn't know. Being a good kid that he was, he walked towards him and sat down next to him. At first, it was silent, until he opened his mouth to speak. "Aniki, what's wrong?" he asked. Itachi looked at him and then back at the kids that were playing across the street. "Father asked me what life I wanted." He answered. "It sounds good to be able to be like him, a Chi-Ten, but I can't have my own Shikai." He murmured. Sasuke looked down for a moment before beaming. "Ne, aniki, father's stories are true, then I'll be your Shikai!"

* * *

_A/N: And so, Sasuke's childhood will be revealed. _


	5. Family

**Ai no Tsubasa**

The brightness of the sunlight made him shut his eyes again as he sat up, slowly opening his eyelids.

"Oh, you're awake already."

He looked up to see his Chi-Ten enter with a smile on her face, carrying a tea cup.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as he looked down at his already healed wounds. He then glanced at Sakura, seeing her body mostly covered in bandages, making him frown at the process. This simple act concerned her that she set the tea cup down and placed a hand on his cheek, making him look at her in the eye. "Sasuke..?"

"…I didn't protect you."

Sakura was a bit shocked at what he said. Sure she expected that, but the way he said it was the surprising part. His actions told her how much he probably hated himself for not doing his job well.

"You did." She whispered, still letting her hand rest on his cheek as the other moved to hold his hand. "You did protect me."

His eyes showed confusion at what she said, and it made her smile. "You prevented them from killing me right? And just by not giving in to them, by staying with me, by listening to what I said, you already protected my heart." She laughed in an embarrassed way. "Cliché as it may sound."

"…hime…"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," she leaned forward and had her forehead rest on his. "You did your best."

He blinked at her before giving a smile. "Aa."

"Good morning! Yeah!"

Sasuke's eyes widened until it turned to the sharingan as he pushed Sakura behind him, going into a defensive position when Deidara appeared with a grin, sweat dropping at the Shikai's reaction.

"It's okay Sasuke," Sakura said, smiling, putting his arms down. "They're not here to kill me or take you."

"If you say so." He replied, relaxing a bit as Deidara chuckled. "Sorry 'bout yesterday, yeah?" Deidara placed a hand on Sasuke's head and grinned. "We were just doing what we're supposed to be doing." And he ruffled the boy's messy hair. "Anyway, Itachi told me to get you guys, yeah. So follow me." He then led the two into an empty room, Sakura seeing Kakashi, Kurenai and her mother present, along with Itachi's friends.

"Have a seat." Kasumi said as the two did, Deidara moving beside Tobi and making himself comfortable there, their Lunaris friend, named Aoi, peacefully resting on Tobi's folded legs.

"Before I start, are there any more clarifications you want me to-" he got cut off when they all shook their heads, so Itachi sighed and began. "It happened about thirteen years ago, when Sasuke was only five…"

* * *

_**Chapter 5: Family**_

"Aniki!"

Itachi looked up from his math book and saw his little brother eyeing the problem he was trying to solve.

"Play with me!" the young boy demanded with a pout. Itachi merely gave an amused smile and patted his brother's head before flicking his forehead with his finger. "Later Sasuke, I need to finish this."

Sasuke frowned and rubbed his forehead. "You always say that…"

"That's because you always bug me when I'm doing my homework."

"Hmph. Fine." He crossed his arms and sat cross-legged on the floor near his big brother, staring at the Gundam models that Itachi had displayed in a closet with a glass cover. His eyes stayed on one particular model that had angel-like wings. "It must be nice to pilot the Wing Zero that Heero uses." He muttered to himself, Itachi heard this that he turned to the boy on the floor. "Nah, Duo's deathscythe is way cooler."

"No it's not!" Sasuke argued, looking at Itachi.

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Itachi, do your homework." Their mother said when she passed by the older Uchiha's room with a smile. "Sasuke, stop disturbing your brother…"

"But I'm bored…" the younger one said.

"Why don't you come with me then? You can help me prepare dinner."

She saw how the child's eyes lit up that he quickly rushed out of the room and followed Mikoto, Itachi shaking his head in amusement before continuing his math homework.

A little later, his mother called him for dinner, so he closed the book, stretched his arms and jogged down the stairs to meet his family. He smiled at how his father caught his little brother since the kid kept running around. It was rare for his dad to be home, especially with the job he has. They weren't that rich after all.

"So you see, the Shikai is willing to give up their life for their Chi-Ten, the same way how their Chi-Ten would do anything to keep their Shikai." Fugaku finished his story as Itachi and Sasuke looked awed. Fugaku then looked at his oldest son. "So, tell me Itachi, what do you want to do with your life?" The said boy looked thoughtful for a moment.

According to their parents, he could have the choice of becoming a Chi-Ten without a Shikai, or a normal person. That was a pretty tough decision for him. Unlike any other kids, Itachi had a wide view of life; he understood it a lot more than an average kid does. That was how much a prodigy he had become. But then, he was worried about his little brother. Sasuke was a second-born, a child of a Chi-Ten and Shikai. According to law, when the master and demonic angel become one, they would either produce a Chi-Ten or a Shikai, depending on who's the father and who's the mother.

In their case, Fugaku is the Chi-Ten and Mikoto is the Shikai, so if their first-born is a boy, then he will have the choice to learn Chi-Ten powers or live normally. Problem is - the child won't be able to summon a Shikai, for they aren't born a natural master. If, however, the first child is a girl, then she will be a pure-breed Chi-Ten that can call out to her demonic angel.

The next law was that if their second born is a boy, then he will be branded a Shikai. If it was a girl, then she has the choice of living normally or learning the ways of a Shikai – however, she will not have a Chi-Ten to serve.

The opposite happens if Fugaku was a Shikai and Mikoto, a Chi-Ten.

He saw how his brother was so depressed at something he didn't know. Being a good kid that he was, he walked towards him and sat down next to him. At first, it was silent, until he opened his mouth to speak. "Aniki, what's wrong?" he asked. Itachi looked at him and then back at the kids that were playing across the street. "Father asked me what life I wanted." He answered. "It sounds good to be able to be like him, a Chi-Ten, but I can't have my own Shikai." He murmured. Sasuke looked down for a moment before beaming. "Ne, aniki, if father's stories are true, then I'll be your Shikai!"

The older one's eyes widened that he quickly turned to Sasuke who gave an innocent smile.

"How? You're a pure-blooded Shikai, someday - you will be called by your Chi-Ten."

A frown cascaded on Sasuke's kiddy face. He lit up once more when he thought of something.

"Not unless we make a contract before that happens!"

Itachi gave a confused look, so Sasuke explained what their mother said about the pact a Chi-Ten and Shikai must share. The older boy smiled at this that he stood up. "Alright, by the time I learn the ways of a Chi-Ten, we'll make the pact!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Their clan…

Itachi knew about the Uchiha clan, yet his father refused to marry the girl he was betrothed to, claiming that he loves his Shikai, Mikoto. This was not acceptable for his grandparents, saying that Uchihas have become Chi-Ten for many years and haven't been wed to their Shikai. Fugaku was firm with his decision, and so, he and Mikoto left the compound, not wanting to live there. And even if they could've been living a luxurious life, Itachi preferred this kind of life instead. Simple and normal…

Until Sasuke accidentally lit their neighbor's bushes on fire…

That happened when the boy was seven years old, and it was just the right age for him to be rightfully called a Shikai.

"Fugaku, you know the rules…"

Itachi overheard his mother say one night. Curious, he listened to what they had to say.

"I know, but I can't just let you and Sasuke leave! Shikai or not, we agreed back then that they-"

"The Guardians contacted me last night," she confessed. "They want me to take Sasuke there."

"You can't!" Itachi yelled, bursting inside his parents' room. Fugaku and Mikoto were alarmed at the sudden outburst. "You can't take Sasuke! We made a promise!" he could feel his eyes begin to water. "We promised that I will be his Chi-Ten and he will be my Shikai! You can't separate us!"

The two adults chased the boy when he ran towards Sasuke's room.

The soon-to-be Shikai blinked when Itachi suddenly entered his room and grabbed his shoulders. "Sasuke, let's make the pact now before they take you away!"

"Nii-chan, what do you mean..?" he asked, tilting his head.

"We need to do the contract now!"

Sasuke lowered his head at this. "I can't…"

"Why not..?!"

"My dream…" he said. "A Guardian showed me who my Chi-Ten will be, it has already been decided aniki, and our fates were sealed the moment we both arrived on earth." Sasuke tugged on his shirt's collar, revealing the mark of a Shikai on his left shoulder. "This appeared when I woke up from my dream, and the Guardian said that it was a sign that says I've already been chosen to serve that Chi-Ten in my dream." He gave a small smile and looked up at Itachi. "But you know what aniki, she was really cute…" a blush was on his face when he said this. "And she was sad, aniki, she was crying, so, I swear that I will make her happy when she summons me!"

* * *

"Pfft."

They looked up as Itachi stopped telling his story and tried to hold-in his laughter. Deidara and Tobi had already begun cracking up, and Kisame was on the verge of tears, biting the collar of his shirt as droplets of water poured from his eyes. Sasori seemed stoic at the moment. Blinking, Sasuke raised a brow and turned to his Chi-Ten to ask what was wrong but he was a bit surprised to see her face beet red.

"…Hime?"

"Sorry," Itachi cleared his throat. "I always crack up at that part." He sighed and gained his composure. "As I was saying…" he cleared his throat. "Yeah, I was hurt when he said that, since we did make some sort of promise. Well, the next day, my mom took him to where the Guardians are, and no matter how much I protested, my father held me back, and Sasuke only looked at me with a small smile." He sighed afterwards and dramatically wiped a tear from his eye. "I can remember how cute you were back then, but now," he turned serious. "You're far from it."

The Shikai raised a brow, again, not really sure how to react to that comment.

* * *

"Sasuke..?"

He opened his eyes and looked at his Chi-Ten who smiled and took a seat beside him on the wooden floor, him returning the smile before gazing back at the stars while the others continued to have fun inside while eating dinner.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"…Aa." He answered. "…I just… can't seem to remember any of those memories…"

"Well, the Guardians did erase them, right? So…" she abruptly turned her head to him when she felt his hand grab hers, her eyes meeting his as he gave a gentle smile. She could feel her face heat up from the look he gave her. "I'm fine, hime." He said, knowing that she was only trying to comfort him. "But, thank you for worrying about me."

She nodded and looked away.

"Ne, Sasuke?" she turned back to him. "Is it okay if you just call me Sakura?"

He blinked.

"Well, I just… since you often call me that lately…"

"I can try." He admitted. "But, it might take a while."

Sakura sighed and grinned at him. "I know how you can start calling me that then."

"How?"

"I order you to call me Sakura, no –hime attached."

"Um… okay."

She sighed deeply. "I really suck at comforting others…" she muttered, pulling her knees up close to her chest and resting her head on it. Again, she looked up when she felt his hand held onto hers, giving it a light squeeze.

"If you think you are, I think otherwise." He said, not smiling but the look he sent her made her know that he was trying to assure her. "Somehow, I'm feeling better." He added.

"Well," she scratched the back of her head with her free hand. "That's good to know." She looked back up at the stars. "So, when are you planning to take me out?"

Sasuke tilted his head slightly, confused at what she said before recalling that he did ask – or rather, mentioned that they would go out when the fight was over.

"Anytime you want to."

"Hmm…" she stood up, pulling him as well as she smiled. "Let's go for a walk."

He didn't say anything as she dragged him outside the entrance of the temple, happily talking about random things as he listened attentively, a small smile on his lips, nodding from time to time as his Chi-Ten seemed a lot happier than ever.

Sasuke only prayed and hoped that no Kaiten will disrupt them tonight, because for sure, he would see another frown on her face, and he didn't want that.

"Sakura," he started, still feeling a bit odd on how he did not call her hime. "What does it feel like…" he whispered, head lowered as they walked, the female Chi-Ten eyeing him with interest. "…how does it feel like," he added. "To have a family and to live with one?" his brows narrowed slightly. "Why is Itachi so depressed about losing me? I… don't get it."

She blinked and tried to figure out how to explain it to him in the simplest way possible.

"Well," she started. "It's a nice feeling." She gave a shrug and stopped in front of a fountain in the park, stepping up onto the banister and had her hands clasped behind her back, at the same time, turn around to face him with a bright smile. "When you come home, knowing someone is waiting for you, it feels good, because it gives you the sense of being needed." She noticed how he listened attentively. "And whenever you feel so down because of what happened in school, your family is there with comforting words and welcoming arms to make you feel better."

He tilted his head slightly; a gesture that said that he wanted her to continue.

"More importantly, a family is something that you learn to love forever. Whatever bad moments you've gone through with them, because it is unavoidable at times, you still continuously care for them and love them." She gave a sheepish grin. "I hope you got what I meant."

Sasuke's gaze at her softened as she straightened up and waited for his reaction eagerly.

"Then, that makes you my family…" he said in an almost soft tone.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"The feeling of knowing that you need me," he said, a small smile on his lips. "Knowing that you offer me comfort when I feel down, just like what happened earlier. Giving me assurance when I feel like I failed to protect you, it's…" he tried to think of how to express himself. "…the same feeling." He mused. "And somehow, I've learned to love you for who you are, and never grow tired of caring for you despite how many difficult battles we've gone through."

"Sasuke…"

Without warning, she smiled and jumped at him, earning a shocked look from him as he quickly caught her by the waist, sighing in relief when she was unharmed. "Sakura, don't ever do that again, please." He said in a calm yet serious tone. She only giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sorry," she smiled. "You can put me down now." He did, but he didn't let go when their eyes met, and her smile slowly faded when he gave her that look, and as she blinked repeatedly while his eyes half-closed, she had a short flashback of what happened back in the Ferris Wheel when they were in the carnival.

"_Oh my god…" _she thought, blushing when his lips were inching closer. _"Back then, he waited for me to lean in, but when I was so close, the ride stopped!" _

And as she predicted in her mind, he did lean in but waited, not wanting to fully kiss her. As far as she can remember, Hinata's late mother once said to them that when a guy is about to kiss you, you'll know that he has respect for you if he would only lean forward and stop to await your response in sealing the kiss.

"…Sasuke," she whispered, closing her eyes as she closed the gap of their lips, pulling away after a few seconds as their half-closed eyes locked onto each other. She gave a small but warm smile at the same time her cheeks turned beet red. He returned the gesture, minus the blushing, since Shikai, for some strange reason, aren't prone to blushing. "Was that your way of saying you love me..?" she asked.

"Aa." And they kissed once more, this time, a lot longer than the first.

"_This is pure bliss…" _she thought, loving the feeling of his lips on hers, of how he didn't go too far with their kiss, even when she opened her mouth as a sign that he can go forward, he did not dare insert his tongue, and it only made her feel more special and happier, as well as luckier to have fallen in love with Sasuke, and vice versa.

"Family…" she whispered when they parted, foreheads touching. The idea of him thinking of her as that made her mind advance to her being a mother of his kids, and it only led her to blush. "Now that I think about it," she looked at him and smiled. "It's not so bad after all." She could remember how she vowed to not get married and bear children, knowing the pain that pregnant women go through once it's time. And yet, after their married female teacher had said how you don't think about the pain when you meet the one, she believed that what she was feeling right now, what she was fantasizing as of this moment, was what her teacher felt back then.

Sasuke, slightly confused as to why she thought it was bad before this even happened, showed his curiosity through his eyes.

"Don't take it that way Sasuke," Sakura said, with a giggle. "I mean, families aren't really bad, I just believe that I have a better understanding of what it feels like to have your own family."

"Don't you… have one already?"

Sakura only laughed lightly and pecked him on his lips for a short moment.

"True, but what I meant was my own family, as in me being the mother."

And that was the first time that she ever saw her Shikai blush.

_**To be continued…** _

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 6: Hunted_

"Sasuke!"

And as she was being restrained by Itachi, she couldn't help but cry at the sight of her Shikai struggling against the ropes that tied him, holding him down to prevent him from escaping.

* * *

_A/N: Visit Nameless Blossom's profile and read "The Perfect Soldier". :D (If you remember about my story of a SasuSaku military style version that I am not planning to do, she has already decided to turn it into a fiction. It's really, really good!)_


	6. Hunted

_A/N: Whenever they're out on a date or not in school, and unless I say Sasuke's in battle clothes, they are wearing their same civilian clothes - or unless you imagine them to wear something else._

* * *

**Ai no Tsubasa**

She smiled as he stared in an amused way at the fishes swimming around behind the clear glass wall in front of him.

"He seems to be enjoying himself."

Sakura looked behind her and spotted Kakashi reading that book of his again, with Kurenai standing by his side, quiet and composed as always.

"Well, it is his first time to see water creatures up close." She answered, glancing back at her Shikai who particularly eyed two fishes swimming around in an odd way. Kakashi seemed to take note of the boy's confusion that he approached him. "Well, what do you know…" he said, amused.

Sasuke blinked and looked at Kakashi.

"Hm?" he turned to Sasuke, seeing how the Shikai silently asked what made him so enthusiastic. "Oh, well, you see Sasuke, these two fishes are mating."

He blinked and raised a brow.

"Tsk. The Guardians up there should really educate you guys more." He chuckled. "Well, mating."

"What's… mating?"

"It's when a boy and a girl prove how much they love each other." Kakashi explained simply, shutting his book close as he decided to lecture this teenaged Shikai about the miracles of life. "Sometimes, relationships between a boy and a girl don't last long, and some couples, just to prove to their significant other how much they care would promise a married life, and to prove that they are indeed serious with their lovers, they will… well, mate."

The Shikai turned to the two fishes. "Isn't saying 'I love you' good enough?"

"Well, to some, it is. Yet to most, it's not."

Sasuke glanced at Sakura, and Kakashi couldn't help but notice how he looked at her with such eyes. It wasn't the perverted way, nor was it a look of longing. It was more on – something between wonder and a little hint of sadness. "Does Sakura… feel the same?"

"Hm?" Kakashi blinked, watching as Sasuke's eyes softened, still looking at the female Chi-Ten talking to Kurenai, both girls laughing. "Could she… maybe, want proof?"

When Kakashi caught on, he paled at what Sasuke was thinking - although, he did find the idea amusing.

* * *

_**Chapter 6: Hunted**_

Her eyes watched the penguins swimming around inside the tank of water, performing silly tricks which caused her to giggle. She smiled when she felt her Shikai wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her body close to his, her back to him as she raised her head to look at him, seeing his eyes staring at the penguins.

"You having fun?" she asked with a grin.

Sasuke looked down at her and gave a small smile before it turned into a straight line as he frowned.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, pulling away from his embrace as she looked at him, placing a hand on his cheek.

He didn't answer for a while before holding onto her hand that was on his cheek. "Sakura," he started. "You… know how I feel about you, right?"

She nodded, urging him to continue, aware of how his grip on her hand tightened.

"You know that I love you," he said, eyes half-closing. "And I want to show you, to prove to you, that I really do."

"Sasuke, you don't really need to prove anything to me." She answered. "I know you really care for me, you love me, you don't need to prove anything."

He looked at her for a brief moment before opening his mouth to answer, but she cut him off when she suddenly kissed him, giggling at his shocked face as she grabbed his hand and led him to another area. "Come on, I wanna see the dolphins."

"A-Aa…"

And as he let her drag him, he couldn't help but recall what Kakashi said before they split up.

"_Prove their love, huh?" _he thought, looking at Sakura as she smiled, staring in an amused way at the swimming dolphins.

Just as he was about to talk to her again, his eyes narrowed as he quickly scanned the area, keeping his senses sharper than ever.

"…_What is this feeling I suddenly have?"_

"Sasuke, come on!" she called, pulling him. He took a good look back before dismissing his thoughts, although, he didn't have a chance to avoid the ropes that suddenly sprung and tied around his body.

"What the-?!" he glanced over his shoulder, narrowed orbs turning to red and widening upon spotting his captor.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, attempting to run, not noticing how Itachi quickly grabbed her. "Let me go!" she yelled, aware how Sasuke was pulled down to the floor, making his body collide with the ground, face down and grunting from the pain.

"Sasuke!"

And as she was being restrained by Itachi, she couldn't help but cry at the sight of her Shikai struggling against the ropes that tied him, holding him down to prevent him from escaping.

"Let him go! You're hurting him!" she yelled.

"That's the idea…" a guy from above said.

Itachi froze at the voice and slowly turned his head behind him, the same time Sakura did.

"You see, your Shikai is a special breed, and we want him." The ropes suddenly released electricity, causing Sasuke to cry out from the shock his body was receiving.

"Pein…" Itachi whispered, unable to move as Sakura broke free from his grasp and directed a water attack to the man Itachi was looking at.

"Let go of my Shikai! Let go of Sasuke!"

"…We want to test him, his endurance, strength, stamina, speed, everything." Pein said after dodging the attack, closing his eyes at the process. "We want to confirm if he truly is the one who can save this world from all its lies and corruption."

Pein jumped away when Deidara's small spiders began to attack, missing the man at the process.

"Hold still, yeah?"

"I see," Pein murmured. "Your team, Itachi, has turned its back on Akatsuki, including you, who sought after Sasuke." He shook his head lightly. "Why did you betray your comrades? How could you defy us?"

Itachi clicked his tongue, getting back to his senses as he did some complicated hand seals and had his palm face the ground. "Deidara, get Sasuke and Sakura out!" and a thick blanket of mist sprouted from the cracks he made on the floor, causing their surroundings to fade until it can no longer be seen by the naked eye.

"Hm. Konan." Pein called as his female Shikai showed up and had the wind clear up the mist, only to see nothing but tanks filled with water animals and water, and the rope used earlier to supposedly capture Sasuke. Apparently, the ropes were cut for an easy escape.

* * *

Sakura watched as Kakashi did a higher level of magic to calm Sasuke's nerves. The Shikai's body was still twitching from the jolts, his facial expression looked pained as he gritted his teeth and grunted, unable to stand the pain. He wouldn't even respond to their calls.

"Sasuke," Itachi called out, kneeling down before him as Kakashi warned them not to perform any physical contact, less they want to be electrocuted. "I know you can hear me bro, at least show any kind of response."

The only answer he got was more twitching of his body. "What the hell was that?" Itachi asked, turning to Kakashi and Kurenai for answers.

"I can only take a wild guess," Kakashi said, finishing up. "It's either the electricity just shocked his system or it messed up his control over his ki."

"I believe it's the latter." Kurenai answered, opening her eyes. "I can sense his ki, it's abnormal."

Ryu gave sad eyes and approached the Shikai, not seemingly affected by the shock since it was a Solaris.

"Well, whichever it is, we need to get him back to normal." Sasori said, forming a seal as he closed his eyes and concentrated his ki to where Sasuke was. As what Itachi explained to them earlier, Tobi was part Shikai and part Guardian, Deidara was a Guardian, Itachi - a master with no Shikai, and Kisame and Sasori were Hunters.

Hunters are the kind of people who either hunt down Shikai for their own selfish ways or care for them when they are injured or in need of special medical treatment, in case the Shikai's Chi-Ten has yet to learn the advanced techniques.

"I'll help." Kisame said, sitting opposite of Sasori, causing Sasuke to be in the middle and imitated what the red-haired ex-Akatsuki was doing.

"Mom, can't I do anything to help..?" Sakura asked, not looking at Kasumi but at Sasuke. "No, dear." Kasumi answered, placing her hands on Sakura's shoulders for comfort. "All you can do now is pray and believe that Sasuke can gain back his control on his ki."

* * *

She was lucky that he was a high-level Shikai, since it didn't take him too long to recover and be back up on his two feet, just in time since it was Monday. Sakura intertwined her fingers with his when he held her hand as they walked. And in turn, he looked at her and smiled. This time, they were going to school as real lovers.

"I'm glad you're feeling alright this time, Sasuke." She voiced out. He didn't have the blue vest on today, just the white long sleeved polo and red tie, plus his black slacks. "I was really worried when you wouldn't respond." She felt his grip on her hand tighten that she looked up at him and he stopped walking, turning to fully face her. "Sakura," she still needed to get used to that, since she blushed when he called her by her first name in that soft yet deep voice.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry." He murmured, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead lightly, pulling away a bit as he tilted his head to angle hers for a perfect position to kiss. With half-lidded eyes, they stared at each other for a long time, their silence being their company. "I shouldn't let you worry about me." He said, taking her hand closer to his lips as he kissed her knuckles in a comforting way, letting his lips linger there. "I'm not supposed to let you worry."

Sakura gave a smile at his words and actions, grabbing his hand that held hers with her other one. "It's only natural for me to worry, Sasuke. It's alright if I feel like this, because it means I care for you." She leaned her head onto his chest as he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. "From now on, I'll take better care of you, as your Chi-Ten _and_girlfriend."

He didn't respond, but she knew that he understood. After all, what a Chi-Ten feels, a Shikai does, and vice versa.

"A-Anou…"

They pulled away and looked at where the voice came from, seeing a girl wearing the same uniform Sakura was, except that she had the blazer on. Her face was red and her head was down as she shifted under their gaze, particularly, as what Sakura observed, from Sasuke's eyes.

"T-This is…" she stammered, face turning redder as she gave a determined look at Sasuke who blinked in a confused way. "This is for you, Sasuke-san!" she took out what she was hiding behind her back, revealing a neatly wrapped box, thin and rectangular, crimson in color with a reddish-pink ribbon. All the male Shikai could do was blink before taking the box from the girl's hands and saying a 'thank you' to her.

Sakura, albeit a little jealous, giggled at how Sasuke seemed clueless at what just happened.

The girl smiled shyly and glanced at Sakura. "I hope you don't think that this means anything, Sakura-san."

She smiled and shook her head before the girl bowed down a bit and jogged ahead of them to school. Sasuke turned to his Chi-Ten who met his gaze and smiled brightly. "Happy Valentines Day Sasuke."

He raised a brow, and she laughed, took his hand and led him to school, unsure whether she can't wait to see how many gifts he'll be getting or if she would be pissed at the many admirers. Whichever it was, she was looking forward to seeing that face of his again.

"Sakura, what's going on?" he asked when they reached the school's vicinity and spotted girls giving gifts to guys. "It's Valentines Day Sasuke, the day where girls give stuffs to the guys they admire, like, friends with or in love with."

"Can't they just say it..?" he asked.

"Well, not everyone has enough guts to do so. Besides, it's tradition."

And as she expected, the moment they stepped in, girls from different levels flocked around them, or more specifically, Sasuke. The Shikai could only blink and turn his head in a fast pace to each and every girl who talked to him or called his attention. He didn't even say his gratitude since they would give and leave and so on. All he could do was take the gifts, blink repeatedly, take more gifts and wonder how he could possibly carry this many.

Sakura tried to hold in her laughter, seeing how many stares from guys were directed at her Shikai. All were bewildered, since nearly more than half the population had gathered around Sasuke.

"Alright girls, maybe you can continue that later, Sasuke's having a hard time carrying all of them." She said aloud, seeing how Sasuke was having some difficulty with balancing the chocolates and gifts with his hands.

The female students blushed embarrassedly and apologized to Sasuke before giving the couple room. Sakura smiled and approached him, taking a few boxes from him to help him out. "Um, it's okay, I can-" she cut him off, knowing what he was going to say. "Come on Sasuke, you and I both know that you're in need of help to carry these."

Since she said it, he had no choice but to obey. So off they went to their class, stares from everyone around them following their movements as Sakura talked and commented, while Sasuke could only nod, blink or tilt his head.

* * *

Kakashi whistled in awe when he spotted Sasuke's desk, as well as the floor near the boy, flooding with wrapped parcels and sweets. "Haven't met anyone who was able to break the record in this school, until now." He murmured.

"Ne, sensei, how many did you get?" a girl asked.

"Hm? Well, same as before, although a bit more, yet not even half of what Sasuke got." He smiled at Sakura. "You might want to keep a close eye on your boyfriend there Sakura-_chan_!" he teased, earning a blush and glare from Sakura. "Sensei, it's not funny!"

"She doesn't need to," Sasuke spoke up, turning to Sakura with a smile since she was right next to him. "Because I only have eyes for her."

And that just got them another round of squealing fan girls of their coupling. Sakura only turned a deeper shade of red and looked down, a shy smile on her lips. Some of their male classmates only rolled their eyes at the mushy moments, while some, who had been trying to get the pink-haired girl for months, could only sulk at their loss.

Who could ever compete with Sasuke's personality and looks anyway? And from the looks of it, Sakura doesn't seem to plan on changing a boyfriend or even dumping the guy. Time to move on then guys.

* * *

She giggled wile brushing her hair in her room, glancing at Sasuke who was staring at the multiple boxes on the side, wondering what he'd do with them. He tried some chocolates, but they were too sweet and he had to gulp down a tall glass of water. Sakura personally thought that it was delicious, so he gave them to her, only to be joined by Deidara and Tobi who were also into sweets. Surprisingly enough, even Kisame hoarded the sweets that were opened.

"You know, Sasuke, you ought to get used to the taste." She said, turning to him. Sasuke glanced at her and shrugged, looking back at the gifts. He felt odd, for some strange reason, and he thinks it's due to the shock that he got from Pein's assault. Sasori did say that he wasn't completely healed, but enough to be at least normal, yet he'd still experience some slight twitching, or possibly a slight change of personality, even to a point of maybe not following a simple order by his Chi-Ten.

"Are you alright? You've been awfully quiet since dinner." She got up and approached him, kneeling down beside him to get a closer look. Sasuke only glanced at her as she tilted her head, trying to figure out what else was off about him. "How are you feeling?" she asked, raising her hand to touch his forehead, but he caught her wrist, and she looked at him in the eye. "Sasuke?"

Sakura was surprised when he suddenly kissed her, and as he waited for her response, she closed her eyes and gave in to his advances, letting his tongue enter her mouth while he slowly leaned down, going lower, causing her back to hit the floor lightly while he lay on top of her, one of her wrists still held by him, her other hand gripping the fabric of his shirt.

He pulled away and lowered his head to her neck, earning a moan from her as her hands formed into fists, one attempting to tear his shirt off as he let his teeth and tongue attack her neck. She enjoyed the feeling she was having, yet when his other hand made a move to slide inside the slit of her robe, her eyes widened, and she pushed him away with her free hand, her expression shocked at what just happened.

Sasuke had never, _ever_, kissed her like that. He always made their lip locks simple, respectable and sweet, never intense. And he has never even made a move to grope her, pin her down, or even lick her neck. "Sasuke, what's wrong with you?" she asked, staring into his clouded gaze. He wasn't being himself, for sure, since his eyes did not look normal at all.

"Sasuke, talk to me, what's wrong?" she repeated, worry evident in her face. It was only when her concerned tone for him entered his ears did he blink and stare at his Chi-Ten, glancing at the position they were in, at how his hand was pinning one of her wrists, while the other was touching her bare skin on the chest area. "Sakura..?" he looked up at her gaze, the questioning look that she was familiar with.

"Sasuke…" she whispered. "Sasuke-kun..!" she sat up and pulled him into an embrace, causing the Shikai to be more confused than ever. "What… just happened?" he asked when she pulled away.

"You mean, you don't know?"

He shook his head and looked down. "Did I hurt you..?"

"No," she answered, pushing his bangs away from his face. "Why?"

"…I felt like something, or someone, took over me…" he answered. "I didn't feel like myself at all, the moment I grabbed your wrist."

Her eyes widened at that. As what Sasori said, the shock would have side effects since he hasn't completely healed. It's possible that this was one of them. However, she was not one to assume so easily, so she pulled him up and rushed outside the room to where the other ex-Akatsuki members were. "Sasori-san!" she called out, opening the sliding door to see the five men look up from their game of cards.

She quickly explained the situation, not noticing how they were all staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" she asked, stopping from her explanation when she realized that their reactions were all the same. She felt Sasuke's hands tug on her robe, and she looked down to see him pull the fabric closer to cover her cleavage. "You should really learn how to look at yourself first before exiting a room." He muttered with eyes closed. She blushed and rushed behind Sasuke, embarrassed at what just happened.

Sasori cleared his throat. "Even if… that was distracting," he murmured. "I did manage to get what you said." He eyed Sasuke. "Looks like the shock Pein had given him wasn't a normal disruption of ki pattern."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Sasuke's actions and behavior were also affected." Sasori's eyes narrowed at this. "That could only mean that Zetsu was able to use a different kind of electric shock," he turned to the rest of his comrades. "He is, after all, one of the best Hunters. He knew for sure what could damage Sasuke, we'll need to find a solution for this, otherwise," he closed his eyes, the others waiting for him to continue. "Itachi would become an uncle."

_**To be continued…** _

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 7: Unison_

He looked at her in the eye, seeing how they were half-lidded and filled with so much love and care. He never wanted her to worry so much over him, he hated seeing her sad or frown or angry. He'd do anything to keep seeing that smile on her face, to see her happy. Because what she feels, he feels. And right now, as she leaned down and kissed him, he felt more human than ever.

* * *

_A/N: So the chapter title meant both being hunted as a Shikai and as a male heartthrob of the school. Luckily, no one plans on getting in between them, except probably the other akatsuki members who aren't on their side. Regarding Pein being a negative Chi-Ten yet managed to have a Shikai, it will be explained sometime in the future. And for those who aren't too keen with a lemon in this fic, well, sorry to say, but, it will be present. Don't worry, it wouldn't be graphic or detailed much._


	7. Unison

**Ai no Tsubasa**

He stared at her in a curious way as Sakura muttered to herself and poked her own forehead with the rubber eraser of her pencil. Sasuke wondered briefly what has gotten into his Chi-Ten, finding her behavior odd. "Sakura..?"

She blinked and looked up from her work, meeting his obsidian gaze.

"I thought you said you finished that last night?"

A blush adorned her cheeks as she laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of her head. "Well, you see, I was too worried about the predicament you're in, and Sasori-san doesn't have the solution yet." She paused when she noted how he suddenly looked down with furrowed brows. "Aw, Sasuke, don't be like that! It's not your fault."

"It is." He muttered. "I should've been more careful when Pein attacked."

Her eyes had a flash of worry, before they lit up when she spotted the untouched bento they shared for lunch.

"Sasuke," he looked up, startled to see a piece of chicken teriyaki being waved in front of his face. "Open up." She ordered. He raised a brow, eyeing her for a while before opening his mouth, letting her feed him. Although, an idea came to him as he smirked and leaned over, Sakura unsuspecting as she continued to babble on, stopping only when she felt the other end of the chicken strip enter her mouth.

Green orbs rolled up to meet the onyx eyes of her Shikai, his smirk not leaving his face as she blushed at the close proximity of their lips. _"Okay, where did he pick these moves up?" _she thought, very much aware of her female classmates trying to hold-in their squeals, waiting for the moment to happen. And when he leaned forward to close the gap of their lips by taking in the rest of the meat in his mouth, their classmates started whooping, including the males.

Sasuke pulled away shortly after, chewing the meat and swallowing as he grinned at her. Sakura was still red in the face, but she ended up smiling, turning to a laugh as he too, fed her with the same pair of chopsticks she used to feed him.

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Unison**_

Physical Education wasn't exactly everyone's favorite subject, but she found it lovable at some extent. She was pretty athletic after all, thanks to gymnastics and track and field. Plus, her skills and abilities helped her out in some circumstances wherein a Kaiten would attack. Although, she did feel sorry for Hinata, a classmate of hers, who seemed to be having trouble in keeping up with those ten laps their teacher assigned.

Momochi Zabuza was a notorious teacher after all.

"Hinata-hime!!"

She blinked and looked up at the blonde teenager who had blue eyes jump over the fence of their school and rush towards the said girl who had fallen to her knees, panting.

"N-Naruto-kun! You're not allowed in here!"

"But you're tired and hurt! Let me carry you!"

Zabuza noted the newcomer and quickly grabbed the boy by the back of his collar, pulling him away from his student. "You are not allowed in this vicinity, you little brat!" he took the teen over to the bleachers and forced him to sit down there. "And just what is your relationship with Hyuuga?"

The boy named Naruto grinned. "I'm her ever faithful Shikai!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she stared at Naruto. _"What the hell?! How could he just blurt that out?!" _she glanced at Hinata, who also had the same reaction she did.

Zabuza was aware of the old legend of Shikai, but he couldn't just believe that this idiot was telling the truth. He glanced around him as his students began to whisper to each other. Even the boys who were doing a different activity had stopped and watched. "You little shrimp. Stop kidding around!"

Naruto twitched at the insult. "I am _not _kidding around here! I truly am her-"

"B-boyfriend." Hinata spoke up, tapping her two index fingers together. Zabuza looked at her and raised a brow, then turned back to Naruto who was speechless. "Kid, you're lucky you're not from this school, otherwise I would've sent you to the principal's office for punishment." He turned around. "Just wait there, I'm pretty sure you'll come back if I drive you away anyway."

Sakura, having finished her laps, jogged over to Sasuke discreetly, who was sternly eyeing the blonde "Shikai" of Hinata.

"What about it, Sasuke?"

He understood what his Chi-Ten meant, and all he needed to do was to give one look at her to confirm their suspicions.

"Wow… I didn't even sense Hinata as a Chi-Ten."

Sasuke noted how she felt bad for herself again, and he sighed and poked her on the nose lightly, smiling when she looked up at him. "You're still beginning to get used to being a Chi-Ten. It's only normal that you aren't able to sense a fellow one." he turned to Hinata. "There's also a possibility that she hid her ki so well for you not to even detect the slightest hint of energy."

"Which means I should train harder to detect it." She murmured.

"Hn. Just go with what Kakashi-san teaches you."

* * *

"Yo!" he stopped and looked over his shoulder to see the blonde Shikai from earlier run towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's up man? I can tell you and I are the same!" he said with a grin.

Sasuke quickly shrugged his hand off as soon as it made contact with him. He glared at the blonde who raised his hands up in defense and took a few steps back. "Relax dude, I'm not a negative one."

"Two Shikai of the same gender are not supposed to be _friendly_ with each other."

"They're not supposed to be so cold to each other too you know."

"They _should_."

Naruto blinked and raised a brow.

"Whether we're of the same breed or not, there is still no telling that two Shikai must easily trust each other." He turned his back on Naruto. "Stay clear from me or from my Chi-Ten."

"Hmph. What a bastard…" Naruto muttered, folding his arms behind his head and turning away to wait for his Chi-Ten to come out.

"Was that necessary?" Sasuke turned to Sakura who saw the exchange between the two. "He did seem to want to be friendly."

"Male Shikai tend to be territorial and overly protective of their Chi-Ten when another Shikai of the same gender appears."

"He doesn't seem to be like it."

"He's from the newbie level." Sasuke answered, eyeing the blonde. "Blue eyes are usually starters or at least basics."

"And Kurenai-san is..?"

"Advanced." He turned again and grabbed Sakura's hand. "Crimson eyed Shikai are advanced levels or veterans."

"And you..?" she asked with a grin.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I'd much rather not answer that question."

"Oh don't be so modest Sasuke-chan!"

They turned to see Kakashi, followed by Kurenai.

"Sensei." Sakura greeted, bowing lightly as Sasuke did the same.

"You see, your Shikai has onyx eyes that can shift to red, aka the Sharingan. He's the special level or breed." He took out a book from his back pocket and read the part where he last left. "Sasuke's type are colder, at the same time, warmer." He eyed Sakura. "He's aloof and indifferent with other male Shikai, Hunters and Negative Chi-Ten, but he's quite affectionate, when he wants to be, with his Chi-Ten or anyone else." He closed the book when he noted how his Shikai had eyed the orange cover with a twitch of a brow. "That's why Hunters tend to chase after him, he's a rare collection."

"No way!" Sakura hugged Sasuke like a little child would to a favorite stuffed bear. "Sasu-kun's mine!!" she cried, her eyes having watery hints. Kakashi chuckled at the chibi version of his student and patted her lightly on the head. "And it's your job and responsibility as his Chi-Ten to keep him safe and away. You see, the job of both Shikai and Chi-Ten works two ways. They protect and care for each other."

She blinked and looked up at Sasuke who smiled warmly at her and ran his hand through her long hair. "It's alright hime, I won't let them take me." She gave a small smile in return and hugged him tighter. _"Yeah, Sasuke won't let anyone take him away from me, and I won't either."_

Kakashi smiled at the two. _"And what makes you both stronger than any other Demonic Angel and Master is the unison of your feelings and desires." _He pocketed his book. _"They're in sync."_

"However, Sasuke can also be placed in the eye color-shifting breed. So, he's two types at once."

"Then, that adds another reason as to why hunters would want him." Sakura said with a frown.

"Yeah." Kakashi answered. "Oh and, you two are in-charge for cleaning duty today, we can train as soon as you arrive home." And he left with Kurenai tailing behind, glancing at Naruto who was staring at a stray dragonfly that hovered over his head. _"Naruto eh..?" _he thought, shrugging as he exited the school's vicinity with his Shikai.

* * *

"Mou, sensei can really push you to your limits…" she muttered, cleaning the erasers by slapping them against each other, glaring at a distant as the chalk powder began to grow bigger and be blown away by the afternoon wind. "You're lucky that you only need meditating…" she turned to Sasuke, seeing how he didn't seem to be bothered by wiping the blackboard with a wet cloth repeatedly. "Does Kurenai-san teach you anything besides meditation?"

"No." he answered, finishing up by placing the wet cloth in the bucket. "She said she doesn't need to."

Sakura sighed and set the erasers aside before leaning against a student's desk and crossing her arms, a pout on her lips. "It isn't fair…" she glared at him when he laughed a bit and approached her, giving a small grin. "Nothing's fair in this world." He flicked her nose lightly and turned around when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Anyway, I'm done, what about you?"

"Let's go." She grabbed her bag and led the way outside.

It was a quiet trip on the way home, and Sasuke didn't want it in any other way. But it did make him curious as to why his Chi-Ten wasn't humming a happy tune, or not having the usual smile on her face, or even the small talks she'd start with him to not keep the silence awkward. He found it weird that her eyes were a downcast, her lips curved up to the opposite way of smiling, and her head lowered a bit, as if looking at her feet while she walked. It was an odd behavior, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Sakura-hime," even if she told him not to call her that, he still did at some point, saying it could pass off as a term of endearment to her, in which she agreed to eventually after Kakashi told her that Shikai habits die hard, like how normal people say old habits die hard. "You're sad."

She looked up at him, stopping from her trip back home as he did the same, turning to fully face her.

"You're not your usual self." He commented, his expression that of worry or confusion, or a mixture of both. Sakura blinked and stared, remaining silent as he waited for a response from her. But just when she was about to say something, a loud and obnoxious voice cut her off.

"Yo, man! What's up?!"

Sasuke's eyes turned to a glare when the blonde Shikai from earlier slapped him on the back. Sakura gave a smile at Hinata who returned it and stopped beside her Shikai. "N-Naruto-kun, I don't think Sasuke-san should be…"

"Nonsense Hinata-chan! This guy and I can be best friends!"

He yelped when he felt his hand on Sasuke's shoulder burn for a bit as he quickly eyed Sasuke.

"Don't touch me." He hissed, grabbing Sakura, giving a curt nod to Hinata, before leaving again. Sakura bid them goodbye before turning to Sasuke. If he was worried about her behavior earlier, their roles have switched this time.

"Sasuke, he was just being friendly."

"I already told you, Shikai of the same gender cannot be friends."

"Well, he seems to think otherwise."

"He's an idiot, that's why."

She punched him on the arm playfully and pulled her hand out of his grasp, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at him. "If that's how you're going to be then fine, I'm not talking to you unless necessary." She walked faster than him, way ahead of him by a few feet as he had no choice but to follow, a flash of hurt was seen in his eyes for a split second when she said that, but his orbs turned back to their usual apathetic look, not giving anyone the chance to get a glimpse of what he felt or is currently feeling.

Because that's how Shikai are supposed to be; they shouldn't let their feelings out in the open unless it's for acting, but he can't help it. His Chi-Ten fell for him, and he gradually did, and he knew that it will never change, even if his Chi-Ten would be mad or sad or would fall out of love with him, his feelings will remain. That was their curse after all.

* * *

"_Damn, I shouldn't have said that." _She thought, eyeing him from the corner of her eyes as he lay down and stared at the ceiling of her room, eyes a bit dazed or deep in thought. She felt guilty with what she said earlier, it was merely supposed to be a threat to get him to be friendly with Naruto, since the blonde didn't really mean any harm, but she didn't expect him to take it seriously.

"_What worse is Kakashi had to make me feel more guilty!"_

She recalled how she confronted him about it, on why Sasuke took it so seriously, and he laughed and said she had a lot more to learn about Shikai. Apparently, even if they decided to be couples for real, they are still master and demonic angel. He still has to do what she tells him, obey what she says, and should, by all means, not argue back. It would only be an exception if it's during a fight, but the Chi-Ten's orders are absolute.

"This sucks…" she muttered under her breath, glancing at him as he remained unmoving. He didn't even spare her a glance at all, and she felt guiltier when she caught a glimpse of how down his onyx orbs looked. _"I can bet you a thousand yen that he's blaming himself again." _She sighed and twiddled with her fingers, unsure of what to do in this very awkward situation.

Sighing, she crawled over to him, stopping beside him. "Sasuke-kun…" She poked his arm, and he slowly glanced at her. "Hime, I thought you weren't talking to me?" she had to resist the urge to yell and thwack him. Besides, his eyes told her that it was an innocent question, a matter of being confused why she suddenly went back on her words. "It's hard…" she said, frowning. "I can't help but feel bad about what I said to you, I mean, you're a Shikai, what you were taught, you must follow and obey. It's just that, I keep forgetting sometimes."

He listened as she talked.

"And… it's stupid to be hostile towards someone who only wants to be friends with you, Shikai or not. Same gender or different."

"Sorry, but that's what we were taught."

"But can't you be nice to him? Or at least, a little less cold?" her eyes turned sad once more. "I don't like it, I don't like seeing Sasuke-kun like that," he noticed how she hugged herself and lowered her head to hide her eyes with her bangs. "It feels cold when you're like that…" and she closed her eyes. "It feels different and weird, especially when the Sasuke-kun that I know is warm and caring…"

"Sakura…" his eyes were slightly wide from her confession, but he remained on his back, slightly getting up in an attempt to comfort his Chi-Ten, but he stopped when she looked at him and moved to hover over him. "Please, don't be like that when I'm around at least…"

He looked at her in the eye, seeing how they were half-lidded and filled with so much love and care. He never wanted her to worry so much over him, he hated seeing her sad or frown or angry. He'd do anything to keep seeing that smile on her face, to see her happy. Because what she feels, he feels. And right now, as she leaned down and kissed him, he felt more human than ever.

"Can you do that for me..?" she asked when she pulled away slightly. He gave her a smile she loved seeing. "Aa." And he raised his head to kiss her again, one hand moving to her cheek and then to the back of her head where he let his fingers entangle in her long hair, pulling her lower as she gave in and opened her mouth to let his tongue in.

His ears picked up how she moaned at their kiss, pulling away from him for air but they remained staring into each other's eyes. He could feel something wrong in him again, something was possessing him as he tried to restrain it, yet when his eyes turned to how a part of her yukata was sliding off of her shoulders, plus the fact that she was wearing nothing inside aside from her underwear, his hold on his other half started breaking.

She didn't have anytime to react when he suddenly reversed their positions, and how his tongue had traced her neck, traveling up to her jaw line and all the way up to her ear. He played with the lobe, nipping at it both affectionately and lustfully. "S-Sasuke-kun..?" she called out, glancing at him, seeing how his eyes were closed as he kissed her neck and licked hard and slow across her throat, nuzzling the spot just above the collarbone before he bit onto it and sucked onto the skin, causing her grip on his hair to tighten. She could feel his teeth turn sharper, and she felt like she was being bitten by a vampire, since his teeth felt like fangs against her skin.

"Sasuke…" she tried again, in an attempt to pull his head back to get a glimpse of him, but a low growl of protest from her Shikai made her stop, and she didn't know whether she was enjoying the feeling of being dominated by Sasuke or take this as a bad sign. "Sasuke..!" she said, a little more demanding this time when he didn't stop in sucking the trickle of blood that came from her neck. "Sasuke, stop it!" she said firmly, trying to pull him away. "Sasuke… Sasuke!" she shut her eyes and sent a few jolts of electricity from her body to shock him.

As soon as he felt it, his eyes snapped open and he quickly pulled away and stared at her with wide eyes.

Sakura was surprised as well to see how confused and unaware his expression was as he studied their position, his eyes traveling to how disheveled her yukata was, how messy her hair seemed and the blood that was evident on her neck. "Hime…" he felt something trickle from the corner of his lips, and he raised a finger to touch it, eyeing the red substance on his finger. His eyes narrowed, and he let his tongue out to lick it off, tasting, indeed, the blood of his Chi-Ten.

"Kuso." He cursed, instantly getting up and rushing out of the room. Sakura called him, fixing herself first when she recalled the last time she ran out nearly naked. "Sasuke-kun!" she ran after him as he made his way through Kakashi and Kurenai's room. The female Shikai had sense him, and the male Chi-Ten made no move to look up, but he did say his name, a sign that he noticed his presence.

"Kakashi-sama." Kurenai said, eyes staring at Sasuke who also stared back in a knowing look. Kakashi raised his head to Kurenai, then at Sasuke, eyes turning serious when he saw the blood on his lips, and the fangs protruding from his mouth. "This isn't good." He said to himself, seeing Sakura enter as well, her neck having traces of dried up blood, and the two holes were a dead giveaway that Sasuke did bite her there. "Sakura, get Itachi and the others and meet us outside, Kurenai, call Kasumi-san."

Kurenai nodded and went to Sakura's mother's room while the pink-haired Chi-Ten turned to Itachi's room. Kakashi eyed Sasuke before getting up and leading him outside. "How did she get you off?"

"Electricity." He answered, still feeling his fangs present. "Kakashi-san, this can't go on."

"I know." He told him to sit down and meditate for a while to clear his thoughts, as well as to calm down. When Sasuke did so, Kakashi turned to the others who arrived, all having the same looks. "Sasori, you do know about this, do you?"

"Yeah, but it won't be easy to suppress his demonic side."

Sakura blinked and eyed them.

Itachi took note of this, so he explained. "Demonic Angels have two sides Sakura. Their normal mode and their demonic part." He turned to Sasuke. "His fangs showing, his crave for blood, his sudden lust - these are signs that his demonic urges are being active and dominant. It won't be good if he can't control them, because he might suck all of your blood without being aware of it. Although, we can be assured that he won't go after civilians. Demon sides are usually labeled as rebels, since they tend to forget their place as Shikai and take it out on their Chi-Ten."

"I wouldn't be worried if Sasuke wasn't attacked by Zetsu's jolt, since it was pretty obvious that he'll only lose control when Sakura's in danger." Sasori explained, turning to Kisame who nodded in agreement.

"But due to that incident, Pein must've been planning something else, so it's evident that they wanted Sasuke to kill you himself when his bloodlust attacks."

Sasori continued for Kisame. "Our last worry was his lust, which could lead to Sakura's early pregnancy. But now, his crave for blood, _your _blood, may lead to your death."

Sakura wasn't liking where this was going. "So, I guess the only option is… to split us apart?" she asked, her heart already clenching at the idea.

Everyone eyed her, minus Sasuke who was still being told to meditate by Kurenai.

"What made you think that Sakura?" Tobi asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. "On the contrary, to get this side of him to stop, you two have to be one." he turned to Deidara who nodded, silently saying that Tobi was correct.

"What do you mean by… be one with him?" she asked curiously.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Your feelings don't need to be united, since you both feel the same. However, your ki should work together in harmony so that he can balance both demonic side and neutral side." He cleared his throat. "And for that to work," he took out his orange book, and from Sakura's reaction, he was guessing that she finally got what they meant. "Sorry Sakura, it's the only way."

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 8: Awkward_

"Aniki," he looked up from his work and saw Sasuke standing there, one hand pocketed, the other behind his head which was turned away from him, his cheeks red from embarrassment. "Can you… Can you help me?"

"Help you in what?"

"In seducing…"

Itachi had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from laughing out loud.

* * *

_A/N: Er… yeah. Am speechless. Resistance will be next._


	8. Awkward

_A/N: Please vote in my poll located, obviously, in my profile, if you haven't voted. It will be closed in a few more days._

* * *

**Ai no Tsubasa**

She bit her lower lip, eyeing how he meditated to calm himself down. _"This can't be happening." _She thought, running a hand through her hair, sighed and walked over to him, taking a seat next to him. "…um." She glanced at him, his legs were crossed while hers dangled over the ground. Their home was like a temple or dojo after all.

"Er…" she had no idea why she even went here.

He remained unresponsive since his eyes were still closed. It looked as if he blocked everything, creating his own bubble, his own world.

"Sasuke..?" she called. He didn't respond, which caused her to twitch. So, she did the only _mature _thing she could think of: used a water attack on him, and that got him to open his eyes to turn to her, surprised at the sudden action she did. "…Sakura?"

"You're so frustrating!" she yelled, getting up and stomping back inside. He only blinked and wondered what he did this time. Sure he noticed her presence, but Kurenai told him not to let anything bother him, unless of course his Chi-Ten ordered him to do something, or if danger's close. But her attack didn't seem threatening. And besides, if his Chi-Ten does attack him, he can't defend himself or fight back. Their relationship was still Master and Servant.

But…

"What did I do..?" he asked himself.

* * *

_**Chapter 8: Awkward **_

She still wasn't talking to him, even in class, and the other students wondered why they weren't in speaking terms.

"A lover's quarrel, maybe?" one murmured.

"No way! I can't imagine them having a spat that big!"

"Well, normal couples do have fights too, no matter how impossible it may seem."

"But what could they possibly be fighting over?"

Hinata sighed and ignored all the comments her classmates had regarding Sakura and Sasuke. Instead, she approached the pink-haired girl, deciding to ask her about it instead of assuming things. "Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?"

"What happened?"

Sakura remained silent for a while before sighing, her brows narrowing to form a crease as she glared at Sasuke who blinked and tilted his head questioningly. Based from that, Hinata concluded that Sasuke had no idea what was wrong.

"He's being himself." Sakura answered, looking back up front. Kakashi was late yet again, despite having to live with them.

"I don't see what's wrong with that." Hinata said, turning to look at Sasuke. "Isn't it great to know that he's being honest with you and not pretending to be someone else?"

"No, no Hinata. He's being... ugh! How can I explain this?" she can't exactly tell Hinata that Sasuke was her Shikai, even if it was probably obvious if her quiet friend was really a good Chi-Ten. "I mean, when I try to talk to him when he's in his… 'meditation' world, he doesn't respond, at all."

"Well, he _is _meditating Sakura, you can't expect him to respond so soon." Hinata said with a smile.

"Yeah, but… he's always like that. Especially if there's something important we have to discuss."

"Like..?"

"…Things. Sorry Hinata, they're kind of, personal."

"It's alright, I understand." She smiled yet again. "But don't you think you're being too hard on him for just that?"

"Well, yeah… but…"

"Sakura-chan," she coaxed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he didn't mean it." And she left to take her seat when she spotted Kakashi enter the classroom, some of their classmates demanding an answer as to why he was late. He only scratched his head and laughed, saying they wouldn't believe him anyway.

* * *

When they got home, Sakura still refused to talk to him, and he was starting to feel guiltier about it, despite not knowing why she was mad in the first place. Sighing, he opted for the only chance he has left in his mind: talk to his brother. So here he was, standing before Itachi.

"Aniki," he looked up from his work and saw Sasuke standing there, one hand pocketed, the other behind his head which was turned away from him, his cheeks red from embarrassment. "Can you… Can you help me?"

"Help you in what?"

"In seducing…"

Itachi had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"You're asking for my help?"

Sasuke frowned. "You're laughing at me."

"No I'm not." Though he inwardly was.

"Stop it."

The older of the two tried to suppress his amusement.

"Why would you want to seduce?" he asked.

Sasuke turned a bit redder. "Sakura-hime." He answered. "I don't know how else to talk to her…"

"And you thought seducing would help?"

"I've… heard from some guys in class suggesting it earlier."

"And you listened to them?"

"…I'm supposed to be asking the questions here."

"Hn. Well, little brother, don't you have any other options?"

"None that I could think of." He admitted. "So, can you help?"

"Why are you asking for my help? I've never even attempted to seduce a woman."

"Then, who should I seek for?"

"Kakashi, who else?" with that said, Itachi went back to working, and Sasuke left in search of Kakashi.

During his search, he bumped into Sakura, who only narrowed her eyes at him before leaving again. Sasuke felt worse about that and wanted to get things right, so he had to figure out a way to find out what it is that was bothering his Chi-Ten. He can look for Kakashi later, he had to prioritize Sakura first – and without thinking, he just grabbed her wrist, preventing her from walking away so soon.

"Sasuke, let go." She ordered.

Surprisingly, he didn't. In fact, he was defiant right now, as if the ties he had with Sakura as Master and Servant was all just a lie.

"Let go of me." Sakura tried to pull her hand free, wondering why her Shikai wasn't following her demands.

"Sakura." He said her name in such a firm way that she felt like their roles were reversed – especially since she stopped struggling and looked up at him. His eyes met hers, and she was a bit startled that his dark orbs showed how much he was desperate to talk to her. "Please." He said, his tone gentle, his voice soft. How could she resist that side of him? No matter how hard she tried, in the end, her feelings always won her over, and her eyes looked sad and guilty for what she made him feel, yet again.

"_I keep forgetting how much pain you go through when I'm like this." _She shut her eyes and lowered her head. _"I feel like such a selfish brat."_

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Whatever it is that I did, I'm sorry. Just don't… act this way." His bangs shielded his eyes when he said that. "I… don't like it, I don't like seeing Sakura-hime acting so cold, so harsh. It's like I don't know you, like I can't recognize you." He boldly raised his head to look at her directly in the eye – a brave move for a Shikai to do to a Chi-Ten. "It feels like you're not the person I fell in love with."

Having to hear him say those words gave her a pang in the heart.

"It's… normal." She said, looking away. "When you're mad at someone, you refuse to treat him or her nicely. When you're angry, you give the cold shoulder treatment to everyone." Sakura found the courage to look back up at him. "It's the same as how you treat other Shikai of the same gender."

"But to treat me like this, it's like you're telling me to do the same to you."

"You have independent feelings as well, Sasuke."

"But I'm still under your command! And what you feel, I feel! You're mad at me, I grow angrier at myself, at the same time, those independent feelings of which you speak of resurface and they make me mad at you!"

Sakura was new to this whole Shikai and Chi-Ten bit. But she knew when a Servant should hold back his or her tongue. Yet after recalling how her Shikai was different from the rest, how his breed was rare and special, she concluded that there are some rules that can't bind him, and for that, she was afraid that she could lose him someday. The fact that he may one day disappear frightened her, and her eyes grew foggy and glassy as she tried to hold back the tears. She didn't want him to go, didn't want him to leave. If possible, she wanted him to stay with her forever.

"Hime, I'm bound to you, even until the after life." He said. "And if I go through what you're making me experience right now for eternity, I don't think I'll be able to handle it, and if I can't, it will affect my powers, it will affect everything, and your safety won't be assured if I can't perform my duties well." The next thing he did shocked her, because she didn't know how to react when he just pulled her to a sudden embrace. The way his arms wrapped around her body in a vice-like grip, the way he shut his eyes painfully tight, the way his heart kept beating fast – everything just made her fear of what could happen to him if she isn't careful of her next actions.

Sasuke seemed to be tough, looked powerful and to be feared, but inside, he was fragile – far more delicate than she is. Shikai are all frail when it comes to their emotions regarding their Chi-Ten. They are prone to getting their hearts broken over and over, for their feelings will remain permanent, even when their Chi-Ten falls for another. "Hime…" his voice sounded pained, and it made her heart ache, especially when his arms around her had tightened. She couldn't hold it in any longer, so she hastily encircled her arms around him, albeit shakily, she still managed to encase him in her embrace, her fingers gripping tightly onto the fabric of his shirt.

"I can't help it…" she said as she tried to control her tears. "I just can't!" she yelled. "One moment I'm mad at you, and the next, you make me feel so guilty! It's so unfair!" her grip tightened, and so did his. "The way you look at me… the way you talk to me, in that tone of yours… everything about you… I just… I just…!" she had no idea what to say. "I can't bring myself to hate you! I just can't!" she felt him push her away slightly to look at her face, to see her crying, to feel her blaming herself for everything. He hated it when things turned out like this. He didn't want this. He wanted to see her smiling, laughing. Not in tears, not in guilt.

"Hime." He called her, and she looked up, eyes still clouded with tears. He wiped them away, careful not to hurt her eyes – the same eyes that he'd want to look into all the time. He held one of her hands and had it over where his heart is. She looked up at him curiously, eyes blinking as some remnants of tears fell. He gave her a soft smile, a gentle look, an expression she loved seeing. "Can you feel it?" he asked, and she looked at where her hand was and closed her eyes as she leaned her forehead on his chest. "Can you hear it?" he added, wrapping his free arm around her. "Mm." she answered.

"Good, because you own it, and while it's still beating, it means that it's doing it for you."

She smiled a bit.

"You hear it and feel it, because it's yours. No one else can have it, no one else can take it, no one can ever own it but you."

Sakura pulled away to look up at him, her smile growing a bit wider, her eyes half-closed as she listened to her Shikai, her lover.

"Because it only has one room for one person, and it's you."

He felt one of her hands reach up to touch his face, to caress his cheek, to push his bangs aside as he made a move to lean down when she closed her eyes, her lips slightly puckered when he dipped his head to hers. She felt his forehead meet hers, felt his nose brush against her own, felt the tips of his raven hair tickle her face, until she finally felt his lips press against hers gently, lightly.

She was a bit shocked that he kept it until that only, and didn't go as far as licking her lips to ask for her permission to enter. He kept their kiss sweet and innocent, no malicious intent – just a kiss out of pure love and bliss.

"Sasuke," she whispered when he pulled away. She lowered her arms to his back and pulled him to her, wanting to embrace him further, to feel the warmth coming from him, to know that he's alive and breathing. "I'm not as awkward as yesterday." She said. "I was just afraid."

He looked at her. "Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe, the idea that… you might be taken away from me someday, the fact that you're hunted by many, it's making me scared." She looked up at him and smiled. "But now, I feel like nothing can scare me. Knowing that it's you, even if it's because it's my first time that I fear it, I feel like I'm ready because it's you."

"Hime, please don't force yourself."

"I'm not." She shook her head. "I'm sure right now Sasuke. I'm ready for it." She intertwined their fingers together. "And if you're prepared for it, you can start anytime you want."

* * *

He knew that he was doing this for her sake. But deep down, he was certain that it was because of his love for his Chi-Ten that he agreed to this.

Sasuke kept his gaze on her as she took a hold of his collar around his neck. He could still recall how he was able to remove it because his brother had taken off his earring. But since it's his Chi-Ten who is doing this, he did not feel threatened, nor did he felt the thirst for blood. In fact, he felt relaxed, even when she moved to take the silver earring off from his left ear and set it aside. She eyed the silver cross necklace around his neck, unsure if that needed to be remove as well.

Sensing her hesitation, he unhooked it from behind to remove it. She was about to take it from him, but he leaned closer to her and placed it around her neck, earning a questioning look from her. He smiled reassuringly, and that was all she needed from him to leave the object be. She proceeded in pulling off the blue vest of his uniform as he helped her with it. Next, she undid his tie, her fingers not shaking from excitement or nervousness. She remained perfectly calm and still as she pulled the red material off, setting it aside.

He took note of her halted actions, believing that it was a sign that it was his turn.

Sakura felt his right hand touch her cheek and push some of the pink strands of her hair away from her face. She sensed how his fingers pulled the red ribbon that held her hair in a half-ponytail, tugging it to loose some of her locks. He let it flow down to the floor freely before letting his hand travel down to the hem of her blue vest, wherein she lifted her arms when he pulled it off of her, removing the article and setting it next to his discarded clothes. She let him undo her red tie, taking it away from her blouse, freeing her neck from its restraints.

She looked up at him, and their eyes met briefly before they both leaned in for a kiss, letting their instincts guide them when they were both lost in the world of passion and lust.

Her Shikai slowly pushed her down, setting her body gently on the soft futon below them, their lips still locked in an intense kiss as he slowly let his tongue out to trace her lower lip in a slow manner, politely asking her to let him in. She granted him permission when she opened her mouth, her tongue sticking out to meet his. Their kiss wasn't aggressive as what she at first thought would happen. Instead, it was just something she can't describe.

Their tongues clashed, but not fiercely. Instead, it felt like they were embracing each other, welcoming the other, caressing and encouraging.

His Chi-Ten placed one of her hands on his arm, while the other traveled from his abdomen, all the way up to the first button of his long-sleeved shirt. She undid one, followed it up with another, and another, until his top was completely opened.

The way her eyes stared at his exposed skin when he pulled away to let her see made him smile a bit, knowing that his Chi-Ten was still fine with their activity. It made him relax and feel more at ease that he was determined to make sure she would feel the same. So he leaned down to her ear and kiss it lightly, earning a smile from her when she felt him lick her lobe slowly and lightly before nibbling at it, teasing her.

A giggle escaped her lips, and he smiled some more at her reaction before proceeding to kiss her neck. He could feel how she raised her head a bit to give him more access, and he took in her invite by opening his mouth to suck onto her soft skin, his tongue not hesitating to stick out and have a taste of the smooth flesh. She did not furrow her brows when he bit lightly. All she did was pull his head lower as her cheeks flushed when he bit slightly harder, just enough to leave a red spot on her flesh, but not deep enough to let blood come out. Her eyes were closed, her lips having a blissful smile as he sucked onto her skin, marking his Chi-Ten as his.

Onyx orbs caught sight of the silver cross pendant resting just a few millimeters below her collarbone. He wondered briefly how she'd look wearing just that, before continuing his job in pleasing her. He could tell that she loved the sensation when his fingers traced her body, traveling down to her knees, before going back up to her thighs, invading what's beneath her skirt.

She expected him to go for it, but he didn't. Instead, he only massaged the flesh, and she moaned, liking the feeling of his hands against her bare flesh.

Deciding that she was still up for it, he removed his hand and went to the zipper of her skirt, pulling it down before undoing the pin that kept the clothing in place. He eyed her, seeing how she nodded in approval before he pulled her skirt off, leaving her left with her underwear and top, as well as her socks that was just blow her knees.

When he had stopped undressing her, she pushed his opened shirt off of him, her eyes staring at his well-toned abs and firm chest. As she let her fingers feel his skin, his muscles tensed a bit, but his eyes were locked onto hers, observing how she didn't remove her gaze from his body while she memorized every bit of it, not wanting to forget what she's seeing. She traced each hard muscle she could find, before undoing his pants to let it loose. She looked back up at him, and he made a move to invade what was underneath her blouse.

Her hands gripped onto his arms as she closed her eyes and let herself be lost in ecstasy. The way he gently touched and worshipped her body as if it was sacred made her want to keep moving forward. He pulled his hand out and undid her blouse, letting her sit up so that she could let him slide the top off. When she was left in only her undergarments, she felt a bit embarrassed and looked away, her cheeks turning red when his eyes remained on her body.

But even then, she did not say a word, and neither did he.

Blinking, she turned back to him when his hand reached the back of her head. He pulled her to him, their lips meeting once more and molding perfectly. Her hands shyly wrapped around his neck to urge him, and he kissed her deeper than before, one hand traveling to her back to unclasp her bra. She barely felt the fabric leave her body, only noticing it when he pulled away and set her back down on the cot. Before she knew it, his mouth had took in one round breast while one of his hands massaged the other to give both an equal treatment.

She made encouraging sounds, so he pressed further, confident in what he's doing. He switched to the other one and took in the round flesh fully. She could feel his tongue lick her erect nipple while she panted harder and faster at the feeling, her eyes still closed from the feeling she was having. It felt addicting for her, and she felt like time stopped, only for them.

He lifted his head back up so that their eyes could meet, and when they did, he couldn't help but smile at her, and she returned it, albeit her cheeks were quite red from his actions, yet it only proved to boost his self-esteem. He leaned down to give her a chaste kiss, keeping her distracted from feeling embarrassed and insecure of her body. To him, she looked more beautiful than ever, and from his actions, she could tell that he was saying that to her, and she felt happier.

The both got up so that she could remove his pants, and when it was off, she looked down at his shorts, her heart beating at the idea of seeing it, much less feeling for it.

Sakura found her self being pulled by Sasuke, her forehead landing on his shoulder blade as one of his arms remained around her body, his free hand holding onto hers, guiding them, encouraging them. Soon, she found herself touching it, feeling its length as it went erect. She glanced at him, seeing his eyes half-closed, cheeks turning red and panting quite hard. She felt more confident about herself to have this kind of effect on him, so she continued to massage his manhood, hearing him groaning and saying her name. Not too loud, but not too soft, just enough for her to hear it.

When she finished, she laid back down as he tried to compose himself first before proceeding. She felt shy again when she was completely nude before him, and she felt more embarrassed when he closed his eyes, reopening them to reveal his sharingan activated as he looked at her from below to above, stopping at her face, eyeing how she gazed back at him innocently. He deactivated his sharingan and leaned down to kiss her softly, turning to her ear just to whisper: "Now you not only occupy my heart, but also my mind."

And she now understood why he activated his sharingan earlier – to forever embed this experience, to always remember her, and to make sure never to forget about her in his heart and mind.

She didn't know how to describe the feeling she felt when his tongue had entered her core, licking her folds dry, only to get wet once more when her eyes looked at him. To see his head in between her open legs was erotic – and she couldn't help but grow wetter each second, each thrust his tongue made. He made her feel complete, and she's starting to feel so spoiled by him when she came into his mouth.

She tried to catch her breath as he lifted his head to look at her, studying the expression on her face.

"Sasuke…" she whispered, closing her eyes when he kissed her and let her tasted herself in his mouth. When he sensed how lost she was in their kiss, he slowly positioned himself over her and thrust inside of her, causing her to jerk and yell against his mouth. He pulled away from their kiss and waited for her to adjust to his length. Her shut eyes slowly opened, until she finally relaxed and nodded at him, despite how sweaty she suddenly became. He pulled out and went back in as she moaned and gripped onto his arms, both their eyes closed tight and breathing fast and hitched. Their bodies grew hotter and sweatier.

Giving him a light squeeze as a signal to go again, he did not hesitate to ram back inside after pulling out, repeating the process a bit slow first until she told him to go faster and harder, finally able to adjust to his size and let her tensed muscles relax a bit. He grunted and she cried out, but they kept going, determined to get it right.

"I'm… close..!" she told him, her grip getting tighter as his fingers fisted on the sheet that rested over the futon they both laid on. He went in and out at the rhythm she set for the both of them, and with one final thrust, they both came at the exact time, their ears picking up the sound of both their liquids mixing, signaling that they were not only one in feeling but now in blood and body. They felt like nothing could split them apart in this world.

Sasuke slowly pushed himself up and pulled out of her, both still panting and recovering from their activity before he moved beside her and collapsed, unable to keep himself up any longer. He was drained, and so was she, yet they felt complete. She rolled to her side and wrapped her arms around him as he did the same and pulled her closer, keeping her body warm even if the heat they felt still radiated from their bodies.

"Hey, Sasuke..?"

"Aa…"

"…Thank you." She whispered, kissing him softly on his lips, earning a small smile from him before she snuggled back into his arms. He understood what he meant. She thanked him for taking his time for her, and for making her comfortable and relaxed most of the time. Because of that, it didn't feel too painful on his first thrust. He opened his eyes and looked at her, seeing how she had easily fallen asleep with a smile on her lips. He couldn't help but smile as well, and gaze at the necklace he just gave her. It did suit her, whether she had nothing on or not.

* * *

"Bad news…"

"What?"

"The Shikai that were after…"

"…What about him?"

"He was able to overcome the shock, despite almost getting close to killing his Chi-Ten the other night."

"What else?"

"…They just became one."

Silence followed, before a cloaked man got up from his seat and walked pass the other who just reported to him. "Zetsu, we'll lay low for now. In the meantime," he walked deeper into the darkness. "Keep sending Kaiten. This way, we can at least prevent their bond from growing stronger as it is."

"Pein, it's not easy to break a Master and Servant's bond."

Zetsu and Pein turned to the new voice, seeing Konan.

"It didn't seem too hard for you and your old Chi-Ten." Pein countered.

"…He did not treat me well, and it aroused my demonic side quickly."

"In that case, get some Kaiten to destroy that bond those two share."

Zetsu sighed. "Sorry, but Konan is right. It's not easy to kill it, now that they've become one."

Pein's face remained blank. "Yes it is."

The two looked at him.

"Is Hidan not an ex-monk?"

"What do you propose?" Konan asked.

"Get that guy to summon corrupted souls. With a girl like Haruno, it won't be hard to possess her."

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 9: Spirits_

"Sasuke!" she rushed to her fallen Shikai and assisted him in getting back up on his feet. "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. Sasuke managed a small smirk of reassurance. "This is nothing hime." He said, catching his breath as Kakashi approached them, Ryu tailing behind. "You should know better than to do that Sasuke."

Sakura looked at Kakashi, then at her Shikai who had his eyes narrowed at the silver-haired man.

"Why? What's wrong with what he did?"

Kakashi turned to the pink-haired Chi-Ten, then back at Sasuke. "Shikai can heal themselves, with or without their Solaris, depending on how much energy they have left. But the Chi-Ten will always have trouble in restoring back to normal. In your case earlier, it took Sasuke five feathers from his wings to heal you back to normal and in tip top shape." She noticed Kakashi's eyes grown stern. "Their wings…" he trailed off, leaving Sakura hanging since Sasuke had glared at Kurenai's Master to shut up.

* * *

_A/N: Erm… longest lemon ever written. XD Hope this can satisfy you for now. So, care to take a guess on what Kakashi was supposed to say yet was cut off by Sasuke's death glare? Now, why doesn't he want Sakura to know what Shikai's wings are..? Oh and, if you wish to see spoilers for this fic, check my profile. There are links located below that says: Ai no Tsubasa spoiler 1 and Ai no Tsubasa spoiler 2.  
_


	9. Spirits

_A/N: Rargh. With the way the manga is going, it's ruining the ideas I've been racking my brain for this story! Ugh. So, let's see… Pein would now be Nagato. _

_A/N 2: Most of you already know how this would end, but as I've said to some, you'll never really know how my mind works. *evil grin* Anyway, I finally managed to fix the plot to also __**somewhat**__ fit the manga/anime. Though don't expect fast updates just yet._

_A/N 3: Screw the manga/anime! I'm going with how I want this to go.

* * *

_

**Ai no Tsubasa**

Kakashi looked up when Sasuke and Sakura entered the room.

"Good morning sensei!" Sakura beamed. "What're you watching?"

She and Sasuke sat down next to Kakashi who eyed the television screen.

"There's another rogue Chi-Ten." His eyes narrowed. "And he has an ally that can possess you."

Sakura blinked, so Kakashi explained further.

"Corrupted souls can possess a Chi-Ten, once the master becomes a victim of these souls, they may never return back to normal, and these souls will take charge of the Chi-Ten's Shikai."

"Isn't there a way to prevent this?"

"...It's risky for the Shikai if he or she attempts to save his or her Chi-Ten."

"How risky?" Sakura asked, turning to see Sasuke's brows furrow and head lower all of a sudden while Kakashi contemplated whether to tell her or not. She sensed what these two were thinking, and she narrowed her eyes at them. "Tell me."

"Some other time." Kakashi answered, noting the warning look Sasuke sent him. "Right now," his serious look turned to a grin. "You need to get to school."

* * *

_**Chapter 9: Spirits**_

"Tell me."

He remained silent and looked away from her.

"That's an order, Sasuke."

"Hime... I... I can't."

"Why not?"

He stopped and turned to her. Sakura was taken aback by his expression, since he looked angry at something, at the same time, his eyes showed that he was worried.

"I just can't."

"After what we did last night," she began. "We should be on a different level right now." She glanced at him. "Our trust towards each other should have evolved. No more secrets Sasuke, I don't want to be left hanging!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked to the side, refusing to tell her.

"Sasuke!"

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

"Even if it's an order?"

"Yes…" he met her eyes. "Even if it's an order."

She looked away, fists clenching tightly, an act he took notice of. "I was told back then by a teacher… that knowing too much can have consequences."

He dared to reach for her hand, but stopped halfway and lowered it back to his side.

"But not knowing anything at all makes me tense and stressed." She turned to him, seeing his expression remaining the same. "I don't know what I'll do if I'm not prepared for it Sasuke."

His gaze softened a bit, though his brows remained knitted together.

"Sasuke…"

"I'm sorry." He pulled her in for an embrace when she finally broke down from the tension. "But I can't tell you."

Her hands that were pressed against his chest clenched the fabric of his vest, and her shoulders began to lightly shake from anxiety.

"I wish I could," he whispered. "…if it could help ease your tension, but I can't."

It took a while for her erratic heartbeat to calm down, and when it finally did, they started to walk towards their school. Sasuke kept an arm around her waist, keeping her closer to him to assure her that everything is going to be fine.

"Kakashi-sensei said… corrupted souls, didn't he?" He looked at her when she spoke. "What kind of souls?"

"Souls that are suffering below." He sighed. "Souls that weren't able to repent for their sinful actions."

"If they possess me…" she murmured. "What will happen to me?"

His grip tightened. "They won't possess you."

"What if they do?" She pressed on. "What will happen?"

He stopped walking, making her stop as well.

Sakura pulled away from him to look at her lover, and he only kept his gaze lowered, the frown evident on his face, and that meant something bad.

"Sasuke, please," she begged. "At least give me a hint."

"If he is unable to save you," a voice answered. "Your soul will burn in hell."

She stiffened, and Sasuke immediately glared at his brother, whose presence he failed to sense due to deep thinking.

Itachi, now wearing a dress shirt, black slacks, and a black tie, did not heed his little brother's look and just eyed Sakura.

"Your soul will replace the soul that has possessed you." He continued while carrying the coat in his arm. "The worst that could happen is… well, you'll remain in hell for eternity."

"Enough." Sasuke warned in a low voice, eyes flickering to red.

"She has to know, Sasuke." Itachi reasoned. "If you can't tell her the risk a Shikai must make, then at least let her know what would happen to her if-"

"Shut up Itachi." He snarled. "She has too many things to worry about right now, and she doesn't need any more problems."

"That's the life of a Chi-Ten." The older Uchiha snorted. "Also, I'd like you two to come with me."

"We have school." Sasuke grunted, looking elsewhere as his eyes returned back to normal.

"This is much more important than school." And with a jerk of his head, he walked to another direction.

Sasuke held onto his Chi-Ten's hand and gripped it lightly. He gave a thug to awaken her from her stupor, and she blinked a few times before looking up at him.

"I won't let that happen." He told her, and she felt his fingers intertwine with hers. "I promise."

Somehow, she felt relieved - even if it was just a little bit of comfort, she appreciated it.

* * *

"What is this place?" Sasuke asked, head turning from right to left in order to scan the area.

There was a house in the middle of the wide yellow field, and it looked pretty much abandoned. The small hut-like structure wasn't huge, but it wasn't too small either; it looked more like a farmhouse, actually, minus the animals. He spotted a dog lying on the front porch, as if guarding the entrance to the house's interior, since it lifted its head up upon hearing them fast approaching.

Itachi bent down and clicked his tongue a few times while coaxing the dog to go to him. The mongrel stood up and walked over to the older Uchiha's spot, its nose sniffing his outstretched fingers, and Sakura saw its tail wag lightly, apparently recognizing him.

"We're good to go." He told the two teens with a brief glance, and he went inside the house, the dog entering first to lead them to who knows where. "Sasuke, don't… well, don't be harsh, alright?"

"…Harsh?"

"I know you lost your memories, but try to at least act like you didn't." He sounded desperate, and Sakura had a feeling where they were, and who lived here. "Okay?"

He didn't answer for a moment as he searched his brother's eyes for any particular reason to his request, but he nodded none the less as the dog barked a few times to catch their attention.

Once more, Itachi motioned for them to follow, so they did, and they were led to the back door.

Sakura spotted a tall tree yet held no leaves, and a lone figure seated underneath the branches.

"Itachi-san," Sakura called out. "That person…"

"Uchiha…" he answered. "Fugaku." He glanced at the two. "My father, as well as Sasuke's."

Sakura felt her Shikai's hold on her hand tightened, and she looked at him to see his eyes widen and staring at where Fugaku stood, still unaware of their presence despite the dog's barking.

"When mother took you with her, he felt like the world ended, and I had no choice but to learn the ways of a Chi-Ten on my own." Itachi explained. "When Akatsuki came for me, my father didn't want me to leave, but I knew they were dangerous so I told him that I'd come back from time to time, that I won't leave him completely and he eventually agreed."

He walked forward, and Sakura had to pull onto Sasuke's hand a few times before the young Shikai moved from his spot.

"Father always feels happy when I visit, even if he is no longer the strong Chi-Ten he once was." His eyes softened as they drew nearer and nearer to Fugaku. "My last visit was about a week ago, and I told him about you, about Sakura, about everything; he was happy I was no longer with Akatsuki." He paused to glance at his little brother, seeing him still staring at their father. "He couldn't wait to see you again, as well as to meet your Chi-Ten, so I promised him I'd take you both here someday when the time is right."

Sakura stopped. "When the time is right..?"

Itachi gave a small smile. "When Sasuke has finally overcome his demonic urges, when you two are finally one, just like when he and our mother became one."

The pink-haired girl blushed when she recalled last night's activities with Sasuke.

"More importantly," his smile was replaced with a blank look. "When Hidan would make his move."

"Hidan?" Sasuke echoed, finally able to respond properly. "Who's Hidan?"

"Another Akatsuki member, though quite inactive, until now." He explained. "He is an ex-monk, which is why he is able to make use of corrupted souls to do his bidding and follow his every command."

"So why wait for him to be active?" Sakura asked. "He sounds dangerous."

Itachi stopped when they were just a few feet away from Fugaku. "My father wants to train you, Sakura."

And just as the words left his lips, Fugaku stood and turned around to face them.

Sasuke felt himself stiffen once more when the older man's gaze fell on him.

"Father," Itachi bowed down a bit, Sakura doing the same. "This is Haruno Sakura, the Chi-Ten I was telling you about; the Chi-Ten whom your youngest son is serving." He glanced at his brother. "Sasuke." He called the teen's attention. "Pay your respects to father, please."

Sasuke snapped from his stupor and bowed down, not straightening back up as a million thoughts ran in his mind. Would he address this man as father too, even if he doesn't recall meeting him? How would he act? How should he respond?

Fugaku took a step closer to Sasuke, and the Shikai chose this time to look back at him.

"I am aware," he spoke while eyeing his son. "That you no longer have memories of me," his gaze softened, and Sasuke felt something odd. "You don't remember how I first carried you when you were born, or how I always grabbed you whenever you would run around the house, laughing."

He studied how much the used-to-be five year old Sasuke had grown, and he couldn't help the small smile on his lips.

"You're taller than me now too." He raised a hand to place on the boy's shoulder, and he felt the teenager stiffen from the touch. "You don't remember how you always pleaded me to tuck you in, or even run to me when there's a thunderstorm, or when you have nightmares of Kaiten."

Sakura's eyes watered, so she wiped the tears away and had a smile on her lips as she listened to Fugaku speak. She remembered her own father, remembered how he carried her on his shoulders all the time whenever they would go out, and she remembered how he would always buy her ice cream when he'd pick her up from school.

Itachi set a comforting hand on her back, and she gave a grateful smile to her brother-to-be, as what Sasori and the rest have been joking about.

Sasuke opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out. He wanted to try calling him father, but he couldn't seem to form the word to say it. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what.

His fists clenched in frustration, and he hung his head in order to shield his eyes from view. He gritted his teeth in annoyance for not having anything to say to his father. He doesn't remember Fugaku, yet he could feel that he has known this man for so long, he can feel the connection – just like when he first met Itachi, but he didn't heed those feelings out of worry for Sakura. But now, he could clearly identify the turmoil he was having – his past self and present self are in conflict, making his head hurt, making images from various times become blurry.

"Son," Fugaku called out. "Please, don't force yourself to remember."

Both Itachi and Sakura were surprised when Sasuke just choked all of a sudden, and upon closer inspection, they saw something trickle down his cheek – tears.

"You'll only hurt yourself," Fugaku said, closing his eyes when he himself felt how watery they've become. "And I don't want that," he shook his head. "Don't even try to remember those days."

Sakura covered her mouth to silence her own sobs as she let Itachi pull her back a bit for a comforting half-embrace. Her Shikai's feelings – she could feel them too; was this what Kakashi meant about being one? Was this what Sasuke always felt when she was in pain?

"So, please…" Fugaku's eyes opened, and tears came out. "Stop causing yourself so much grief and pain."

"_I want to remember…"_ he thought without raising his head, refusing to let anyone see how much this meeting with his father had affected him. _"I want to recall having a family."_

No matter how hard he'd try to come up with images from Itachi's story or Fugaku's, he can't bring himself to reminisce what happened, but can only come up with an illusion – close to reality, but not real.

"…_Make this pain go away…"_ he didn't know what made his body move to embrace his father. _"Please… make it go away…"

* * *

_

"That's it."

His voice seemed so tired and hoarse as he closed his eyes and gave a low groan.

"Yes, that's it."

A body fell limp just as a suffering entity had devoured its soul, and soon possessed the hollow shell.

"Ah." He nodded at the spirit he had summoned that now had a shape to take, a body to control. "It will do." He said, placing a hand against the cheek of a young woman who had dark brown hair and light blue eyes. "Barely hit puberty, but her face will easily deceive anyone."

He pulled his hand back and turned around.

"Innocence is the key." He smirked. "Come then; we have more to send to hell if you ever want your soul to cease suffering."

She followed wordlessly, the current intruder of her body not caring if the original owner's soul now burned in the fiery pits of hell.

"I hope you're hungry for more; you're in for a treat." He snickered. "A Chi-Ten's soul is a delicious delicacy if I do say so myself."

His smirk widened when the eyes of the possessed body following him had glinted maliciously.

"_Watch out little Chi-Ten, I'm coming for you."_

Right behind him was not only one body but ten more, all posses by different souls, all wordlessly following him in hopes of devouring a Chi-Ten.

* * *

"Focus a bit more."

"O-Okay." She nodded and shut her eyes tight while distributing her ki to different parts of her body equally.

"You were right." Fugaku murmured to Itachi who stood next to him. "She has abnormal chakra."

"What do you think is the reason for it?" He glanced over at his younger brother who looked like any normal human playing with a dog.

"She's… unique." The older man commented. "Just as rare as Sasuke's breed is."

"Sasuke's… _that_ type of Shikai?"

"It would explain why he was summoned by a Chi-Ten like Sakura; if they are able to tap their hidden powers, they have enough potential to destroy this country." He closed his eyes as his mind went back in time. "You do remember how he dreamt of her being his future master as a child."

"Hn." Itachi snorted. "So they can destroy a country, but not the world."

"The Heavens show mercy at times."

"Right." Itachi kept his eyes on the different elements that circled Sakura – varying from flames to leaves, from water to air, and even from shadows to nothing. "Because she and Sasuke have become one, her ki level has jumped to a higher enhancement rate."

"She even has Lightning – an element not too many Chi-Ten can use, an element few Shikai can control."

Blue Lightning crackled all over Sakura's body, acting like a second skin or barrier of some sort.

"It's only fitting," Itachi mused. "Since Sasuke protects her, his element does as well."

"It would explain Hidan's interest to become active once more."

"That pathetic excuse of a monk is just too damn power-hungry." He shook his head. "Nothing is ever enough for him."

"He wants to ascend; he wants to be like a god, to have no limits, no restrictions…" Fugaku sighed. "It's a wonder why people like him still exist to distort this world."

Itachi had to agree to that; he often questioned God about the existence of evil, of men who proceed to live and act as if they are far more superior than others.

"_If there is such a God…"_ he lifted his head to stare at the darkening skies, the clouds heavy and threatening to let rain fall. _"Why can't I feel His mercy?"_

"Ryu."

Both Fugaku and Itachi took a quick glance at where Sasuke was, seeing the young Shikai smiling softly at his Solaris. The enthusiastic ball of fluff circled around Sasuke a couple of times before settling itself on his left shoulder, happily crying out its name while the dog stared curiously at the creature.

"You could at least let me know if you're skipping school."

"Kakashi-san." Sasuke nodded in greeting.

The silver-haired man narrowed his gaze upon sensing Sakura's chi, afterwards, looked back at the raven-haired Shikai. "It is not a good idea to be doing this."

"Why?" Sasuke asked in a look of confusion. "My brother only took me here to meet my father, and he wants to train Sakura in controlling her powers."

"Not when Hidan is out there." Kakashi seethed, turning to look at Itachi who had decided to approach them. "What were you thinking?"

"This is a remote area, Kakashi, I doubt Hidan would be able to find us here."

"You should know better, you were once a part of Akatsuki."

Itachi's eyes narrowed; he still didn't like it when he was reminded of his previous "alliance" with the said group.

"Sakura," Kakashi turned from the two brothers and walked over to the pink-haired Chi-Ten. "That's enough, we're going home."

"But-"

"I insist." He turned to meet Fugaku's gaze. "What did you plan on accomplishing by making her leak out this much energy? Hidan will surely be able to track her down this way."

Fugaku shook his head. "He will only get here if he's gathered enough souls to do his bidding."

"Have you even read the news this morning? Or seen it?" Kakashi didn't sneer, but for now, he'd make an exception. "Some people have been missing, some were spotted to act like walking corpses – mindless."

That caused a frown on the aged man's face, and he did not waste any more time in moving towards the house.

"Father?" Itachi questioned.

"Get out of here, fast." He told his two sons as he passed them. "And hide."

"But-"

He stopped to turn to Sasuke, looking at him for a few seconds before placing a hand on his shoulder. "You have a duty to fulfill to your Chi-Ten." And as he pulled his hand back, moans caused their heads to turn.

"Are you… really supposed to be a handful?"

Sasuke's eyes instantly shifted to red while Kakashi approached Sakura and kept her behind him. Fugaku and Itachi stood next to each other, preparing for a battle.

"This is too easy."

The famed ex-monk of Akatsuki had arrived with two dozen possessed bodies. Their eyes were directed at Sakura's form as Hidan lifted his scythe and pointed it towards her.

"Hand her over, and nobody else will get hurt."

"Leave." Sasuke warned, his Solaris immediately changing his attire when his wings came out. "Now."

"So be it." Hidan closed his eyes, and in a second, had charged at Sasuke who quickly jumped back and raised both arms up to make the earth rise and stop Hidan. The controlled bodies instantly sprang into action, all charging towards Sakura without any second thoughts.

"Hime!"

Sakura looked up and lifted her right hand to her Shikai when he reached for hers, attempting to take her away from danger by keeping her close to him.

Hidan saw through this and threw his scythe at the space between their hands, preventing them from reaching each other.

The scythe's sharp end embed itself onto a tree's trunk, and Sasuke had to pull up when the ex-monk had launched at him.

Sakura took this as a time to call out her water dragon and have it as a barrier to at least not be a burden to the others. She was surprised when it was larger than its original size, and she thought it had something to do with being one with her Shikai – and that caused her to turn red upon recalling last night's events.

"_Focus Sakura, focus."_ She shook her head and had a glare on her face when a couple of bodies had made it pass the three men who tried to keep them away from her – heck, even the dog was helping out. "Wipe-out time."

The red-eyed water dragon had wrapped around her and swung its tail towards the two bodies, sending them as far away from Sakura as possible.

The female Chi-Ten glanced at her Shikai, seeing Sasuke remaining calm and dodging Hidan's swings.

From what she could see, the scythe could inflict wounds despite not touching Sasuke, and she figured that Wind must have been Hidan's controlled element, or perhaps he molded his chi to act as an extension of his blade.

With these in mind, she made a few quick hand seals and swung her arms alternately at Hidan's direction, sending wind waves towards the Akatsuki member to aid Sasuke in the fight.

The sooner the battle was over, the sooner they can relax and proceed with training.

"_Fugaku-san is quite the skilled Chi-Ten,"_ she thought as she sent a few more waves. _"In just a matter of minutes, my ki-flow has greatly improved, and my control is better than ever."_

It wasn't like Kakashi wasn't a good trainer, he was. He just stuck to the basic more, whereas Fugaku had decided upon teaching her something easier yet advanced.

"_But…"_ she lowered her arms and panted slightly, also taking note of how her water dragon had grew thinner. _"I still need more training if ever I want to last longer in a battle."_

She snapped her gaze towards an incoming body which launched itself in the air. The dragon quickly swung at it, sending it back a few meters.

"Just what I was hoping for."

Her glare met Hidan's smirk, and she sent a few more waves to him when he was close to injuring her Shikai.

"Oh I didn't forget about you." Hidan slashed at the waves and twisted his body to deliver a kick to Sasuke's chest, before using him as leverage to head towards Sakura. "You should take better care of your Shikai!"

The dragon met Hidan halfway, giving Sakura enough time to get away from her spot.

"Sasuke!" She turned to her Shikai, wondering what was wrong and what Hidan had meant.

"You naïve little girl." Hidan landed back on solid ground and approached her. "Did you honestly think your strength came from your own energy?"

"W-What…" Sakura studied how Sasuke moved a bit slower than usual when he charged at Hidan. _"Don't tell me that I've been using his ki and not mine..!"_

"Foolish girl." Hidan grunted when he got hit by Sasuke's kick. "You've barely mastered controlling your energy."

"Sasuke…" Sakura knew she was breathing heavily, but she didn't think her Shikai would too.

"You're bound to him, remember? If you go overboard with your powers, you will eventually take his without being aware of it." Hidan smirked at Sasuke when he had fallen down on one knee. "I think your Shikai here has no complaints when it comes to you."

"Ch." He stood back up and staggered a bit before glaring at Hidan with dark red eyes. "Don't talk as if you know everything." His arms began to emit blue crackling light, and soon, his whole body was covered in electricity.

Hidan's eyes narrowed for a split second before he ran towards the Shikai with his scythe ready to kill.

Sasuke gathered the electric energy into his palms before shoving Hidan back – the impact had sent the ex-monk flying more than thirty feet away from his previous position, and when he rolled to a stop, his body was twitching from the effect of Sasuke's lightning.

"_Charge _huh?" Hidan coughed, trying to get back up. _"It's to be expected of his breed, and with Lightning being his main element, he can recover from chi loss, especially now that he is one with his hime."_

He used his scythe to aid him in getting back up.

"_Time to use _that_ then."_

Wind began to pick up as the thunder roared from above.

Hidan tugged at his cloak, removing the item off of him and revealing intricate patterns tattoed on his body.

He tightly gripped his scythe and brought the pointed end down at the ground before him, afterwards, spun around to created a circle on the earth.

"Awaken." He spoke as he raised his right hand to the air, gathering the wind which slashed at the circle he had made, forming a twelve-pointed star with him standing in the middle. "Awaken now."

The souls that possessed the bodies Itachi and the rest were fighting had left their shell and gathered in the air, their transparent smoke-like appearance turning into a dark shade of grey, and finally completely black. Soon, it formed glaring eyes and a snarling mouth, the misty being creating fangs to appear more threatening.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and quickly flew towards Sakura when the thing had leapt at the pink-haired Chi-Ten.

"Hime!"

Sakura was frozen on the spot, shocked at what she was seeing and what was happening, and before she knew it, twenty-four corrupted souls had taken her very being.

"Sakura!" Kakashi made a move to run towards his fallen pupil, but Hidan's strong wind sent him, Fugaku, and Itachi backwards, and then put pressure onto their bodies to keep them on the ground, even Fugaku's animal companion was not spared from the strong gust.

"Devour her…" Hidan began to chuckle from his position. "Eat her away… taste her delectable being, leave nothing but a hollow shell of her body…"

Sasuke clenched his fists as he eyed her form on the ground; she struggled as if she was being held down by someone else, cried out as if when cuts were being done to her arms, legs, and torso. Those spirits that Hidan had summoned were criminals back when they were still alive – they were not only killers but possibly rapists and sadists – it would explain why Sakura was suffering like this, crying out, begging for what, he wasn't sure, but he had a vague idea that she wanted to yell _stop_.

Her name left his lips in a soft whisper, and he soon closed his eyes and brought his hands together; he formed one seal at a time, not too fast to not be recognized, but not too slow that it wasted time. He didn't block out her pleas, finding comfort that _at least_ she was still here, and that she can still be saved.

He held the final seal and opened his eyes, the originally dark colored irises turning blood red. His black wings spread out behind him, and it was too late for Hidan to realize what the Shikai intended to do.

"Disperse."

Lightning flashed as feathers were pulled out from his wings.

"Secure."

Twelve black feathers defied the wind's pull as they pushed pass the strong zephyr and surrounded Sakura.

"Absorb."

Each feather took in two souls, one at a time, freeing Sakura from their tortures.

"Eliminate."

And as Hidan cursed and ran towards Sasuke, lightning flashed from the sky and struck at the twelve feathers, disintegrating them just as Sakura had sat up to see Sasuke deliver a blue ball of lightning through Hidan's head, the force crashing the ex-monk's skull when Sasuke gripped onto it and lifted the limp body in the air.

The harsh wind gradually turned into a gentle breeze and the other three men were able to get back up again.

"Sakura!"

She looked up at Itachi when he knelt down before her.

"How are you feeling?"

She blinked a couple of times before looking down, her eyes looking dazed despite staring at the multiple cuts she had, and how badly she was bleeding.

"The aftermath of being possessed is still in effect." Fugaku stated upon nearing his eldest son. "It's not the right term but, she's in _shock_."

"Stand aside."

Both Itachi and Fugaku stepped away when Sasuke had spoke from his spot and eyed his Chi-Ten. Wind circled around him and plucked out five feathers from his wings, making him wince slightly before turning back to the task at hand. He lifted his palms up and had the black feathers floating atop them as the breeze kept them close together, before sending them towards Sakura's direction.

Her eyes focused on the feathers gathered in front of her as they glowed and turned to small particles which floated around her and gathered near her wounds.

As soon as her injuries were healed, she blinked a few times and regained her senses back.

"Sakura."

She met Kakashi's worried gaze.

"Sensei…" she responded, and that caused the three men to sigh in relief. "Sasuke… where's…"

Her ears picked up a _thud_ to her left, and she quickly looked to the source of the sound, eyes widening at the sight of her Shikai looking drained.

"Sasuke!" She rushed to her fallen Shikai and assisted him in getting back up on his feet. "Are you okay?" She asked, her voice laced with concern.

Sasuke managed a small smirk of reassurance. "This is nothing hime." He said, catching his breath as Kakashi approached them, Ryu tailing behind.

"You should know better than to do that Sasuke."

Sakura looked at Kakashi, then at her Shikai who had his eyes narrowed at the silver-haired man.

"Why? What's wrong with what he did?"

Kakashi turned to the pink-haired Chi-Ten, then back at Sasuke.

"Shikai can heal themselves, with or without their Solaris, depending on how much energy they have left. But the Chi-Ten will always have trouble in restoring back to normal. In your case earlier, it took Sasuke five feathers from his wings to heal you back to normal and in tip top shape." She noticed Kakashi's eyes grown stern. "Their wings…" he trailed off, leaving Sakura hanging since Sasuke had glared at Kurenai's Master to shut up.

"What about their wings?" Sakura asked, looking at Sasuke.

"It's nothing." Sasuke got back up and looked away, refusing to meet his Chi-Ten's gaze.

"It's bad enough that you used twelve to extract those souls," Kakashi lectured. "And to have used five more to heal her…"

"I only did what a Shikai should do!" Sasuke snapped, glaring at Kakashi. "I won't sit back and let my hime suffer."

To anyone, it would have been a sweet reaction, but Sakura knew better.

"A Shikai should also know his or her limits." Kakashi kept his head cool. "A Shikai like you should-"

"Stop telling me how to do my duty!"

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm when he began to emit electricity.

"You may know about Shikai, but you don't know everything we're trained and taught to do." He seethed.

Kakashi only resorted to glaring back, deciding that voicing out his thoughts may lead to an unnecessary dispute.

"Such as having their masters killed."

The dog barked and the group had abruptly turned to the new voice, and their eyes widened when they saw a pointed end of a sphere covered in blood.

"Fa…father…" Itachi started to shake when he saw the weapon's sharp end protruding from Fugaku's front chest, and right behind the older Chi-Ten was another Akatsuki member, and had Fugaku's body lifted from the ground.

"But then… he has lost his Shikai long ago, he has lost his wife, he has lost your mother."

And the sphere was harshly pulled out of the man's body.

"K…Kaku…zu…" Itachi gritted his teeth when his father's body had fallen to the ground, the man gurgling blood and choking on it. "Kakuzu!" Itachi charged at his father's killer.

"This is merely a warning." Kakuzu stated calmly. "A warning that we won't stop until we get what we want."

And as soon as Itachi had reached Kakuzu, he had fled.

"Kakuzu get your fucking ass back here and fight!" Itachi cried out. "Kakuzu!"

Sakura and Sasuke ran over to Fugaku while Kakashi held Itachi back from pursuing the Akatsuki member.

Fugaku's pet whined when it saw its master bleeding.

"F-Fugaku-san, hang in there!" Sakura said, carefully turning the man on his back and lifting him up a bit. "Just hang in there!"

He turned to the whining dog and gave it a weak pat.

"Fugaku-san!"

"It's…" he coughed. "It's alright…" his gaze averted from Sakura to Sasuke. "It's… okay…"

He lifted a bloody hand, and the young Shikai took it in his. "Save your strength…" he told him. "Please just… just…"

Fugaku smiled slightly. "At least…" he gently gripped his youngest son's hand. "At least I met you again…"

"Don't talk anymore…"

"Son…" Fugaku would have gave a soft chuckle if he could. "Don't cry..."

A teardrop fell, and then another, touching the elder man's cheeks, making his eyes shed tears as well.

"Don't… cry…"

Sakura lifted her gaze from Fugaku to Sasuke, her own eyes producing tears when she saw her Shikai's lowered head yet tear-stained cheeks.

"Please don't…" Fugaku's voice grew weaker and weaker, and so did his grip on his son's hand.

Itachi stood behind his brother, unsure of what to do, of what to say.

"…Live… freely…"

The Shikai felt the man's grip loosen, and he turned his eyes to Fugaku's small smile and closed eyes. His chest had stopped heaving up and down, and his breath was no longer felt…

"Fugaku-san…" Sakura tried to call out. "Fugaku-san!"

Kakashi knelt down next to Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura."

She looked at her teacher and cried when he shook his head at her.

Itachi just clenched his fists and turned away, head hung low as his own shut eyes let out the held back tears.

The wind picked up, and they could smell the coming of rain, and it didn't take long for the droplets to fall.

"Why…"

Kakashi lifted his gaze to Sasuke, seeing the Shikai's head still lowered.

"Why am I…"

Sakura sobbed uncontrollably as she sensed the inner turmoil her Shikai was having.

"Why am I crying when…" he slowly turned to the dark skies. "I don't even remember him..?"

_**To be continued…

* * *

**_

_Next on Ai no Tsubasa: Chapter 10: Blinded_

"…Sorry…"

Her eyes remained close even when he held her lowering hands.

"I'm so… so… sorry…" he whispered lightly, bowing his head so that his nose could touch her forehead, his lips near the space between her eyes as he gripped her hands and held them closer to his chest. "Please forgive me, Sakura…"

A nod of her head, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her to pull her in for an embrace.


End file.
